print February 2019

Zhao Yao

This past summer, Zhao Yao first exhibited his ongoing project The Spirit Above All, 2015–. This piece, spanning 21,500 square feet and assembled from colored cloth, was placed for six months out in the sun on a snowy mountainside in Nangqian, Qinghai, before being shipped back to Beijing, where it was ceremonially installed on the field in Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium for a day from sunrise to sunset. The work demonstrated Zhao’s interest in the spirituality of contemporary life. The same fascination was also evident in “Signals from Heaven, Signals from Heaven,” an exhibition composed of nine

picks October 11, 2016

Wang Xingwei

In the “Honor” portion of Wang Xingwei’s latest solo exhibition, “Honor and Disgrace” (co-organized by Platform China Contemporary Art Institute), the saintly figure of Dr. Norman Bethune, a renowned Sino-Japanese War hero, is placed at the center of an absurd composition stirring with restless human bodies. Isolated from the surrounding crowds and picturesque white clouds against the blue sky, Bethune’s image, continuously constructed through historical discourses, has never seemed so unfamiliar. Operating on a wounded soldier, his face twisted with resolve, Bethune seems barely distinguishable

picks March 18, 2016

Liang Shuo

Liang Shuo’s Temple of Candour, 2016, is a wild and aestheticized re-creation of the dilapidated monastery of the same name, which is described in Qing dynasty prose. No genuine traces of the temple are preserved at the original site, which gave the artist creative license in constructing an intricately detailed imaginary version. Upon entering, visitors see plant-like overgrowth that engulfs the entire exhibition space, creating a walking path. Liang’s handling of the white cube is deliberately rough and improvisational, and most of his materials are waste from the gallery’s previous exhibition

Yuan Fuca