Ky. artist's work will be displayed in Beijing

MURRAY, Ky. -- A western Kentuckian will be putting his skill on display in China during the Olympics, but it won't be in athletics.

Murray native Brad White's sculpture, Salixtension, is bound for Beijing to be part of the Chinese Biennial. running concurrently with the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Salixtension was created earlier this year for a show in Louisville, Ky., called "Convergence," White said. The show featured 12 pieces, all created by White.

Salixtension was inspired by "the idea of willow limbs and graceful shapes and how relentless a willow can be," White said. "No matter what you put them through the roots are always there."

White's participation in the Beijing exhibit came from connections he has maintained with two particular curators, Koan Jeff Baysa and Pan Xing Lei.

They invited White to choose a piece for their show, called the First International Chinese Biennial in Beijing. The show's theme is the exhibition of Chinese character spatial art, derived from hanzi, a traditional Chinese writing.

"I think he was looking for sculptural representation of [Chinese writing]," White said.

He's already seeing the results of being invited to participate in such an event.

"As soon as this happened I got a commission to make a sculpture for a client I'd never heard of," White said. "There's a snowball effect of getting out of the community."

The show in China will be up for a month, said White.

"Then I'm hoping [Salixtension] sells and stays there," he said. "And if it doesn't, I hope it comes back."