Hong Kong’s current love affair with contemporary Chinese art continues with a freshly unveiled solo exhibition of mirrored sculptures, collage and a ‘shape-shifting’ video by the Beijing-based artist Liu Wei, at the city's White Cube outpost.
The artist has been producing interesting works for the past 15 years, not least with his sensational Looks Like a Landscape, 2004 – a large-format black and white photograph of what seemed like a traditional Chinese mountain scene but is, in fact, a landscape of naked bottoms. His new show builds upon an exhibition at UCCA Beijing earlier this year with a refined yet unconventional examination of the symbolism of everyday urban materials.
The highlight of the exhibition is Puzzle, an abstract assemblage of enormous organically-shaped mirrors creating an intriguing sculptural enclosure while simultaneously playing with our notions of perception.
On the same ground floor of the gallery are two Crucifixion collages; works that the artist created by draping sheets of steel over delicate metal rods to form an abstract cross-like shape. Liu says he prefers to work with easily available, cheap industrial materials that have a ‘class connotation’. ‘They are natural to this artificial urban environment,’ he explains.
Sharing the same ground floor space is a colourful video work – Shapeshifting – inspired by the neon advertising of urban environments, providing a striking counterpart to the predominantly neutral silver art pieces nearby.
The theme of silver ‘formally orchestrates the whole show’, says Liu. ‘Everything is related to it one-way or the other. It also reflects the colonial history of Hong Kong where silver was even used to buy opium. I don't claim to be a master of history but my work is a re-imagination of that.’
Upstairs, Liu’s newest works reflect his interest in architecture with thick tactile layers of oil paint applied like rough plaster to a canvas, and a series of three smaller-scale mirrored works placed on ‘found’ furniture.
‘It is the simplicity and straightforwardness of discarded things that interests me,’ he concludes.
The artist utilises cheap, industrial materials for his exhibitions, chosen for their class connotations. ’They are natural to this artificial urban environment,’ he says
The show’s centrepiece is Puzzle, 2014; an abstract assemblage of enormous organic-shaped mirrors creating an intriguing sculptural enclosure while simultaneously playing with our notions of perception.
Steel sheets draped over metal rods create abstract cross-like in Crucifixion
Wei’s video work acts as a counterpoint to the predominately silver surroundings; inspired by neon advertising found in urban environments, it exists as a form of colourful liberation from a colonial past
Silver is a predominant theme throughout the space – Wei cites Hong Kong’s opium trade with the British Empire, in which the drug was traded for silver, as an influence
The symbolism of everyday materials is the crux of the show, with the historical and class aspects of the exhibition stemming from this theme. ’It is the simplicity and straightforwardness of discarded things that interests me,’ the artist explains
INFORMATION
’Liu Wei: Silver’ is on view from 17 September – 24 October 2015
Photography courtesy of Liu Wei and White Cube
ADDRESS
White Cube Hong Kong
50 Connaught Road
Central, Hong Kong
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