Artist brushes up on his character

Chinese words take on a deeper meaning at Xu Bing's fascinating exhibition, May Zhou reports in Houston, Texas.

More than 50 important works — woodcut prints, videos, drawings, installations — that represent renowned Chinese artist Xu Bing's incredible achievements over more than 40 years — are on display at the Asia Society Texas Center.

Titled Xu Bing: Word Alchemy, the exhibition took a year to assemble and will continue until mid-July. It's primarily funded by the Texas Commission on the Arts, a state agency.

Xu, who currently divides his time between Beijing and New York, has won many prestigious awards including the Medal of the Arts from the US State Department, according to exhibition curator Owen Duffy.