TKG+ is pleased to present Shanghai-based artist Liu Jianhua(b.1962) and his first solo exhibition at the venue. The exhibition features five of Liu’s porcelain pieces as well as one large installation.

The large installation Discard comprises multicolor reproduction antique porcelain, as well as white replicas of modern daily utensils. The piece embodies conflicting forces between tradition and modernity, telling a tale of materialism gone wrong in modern-day society, with all its seemingly sweet comforts. Buried in the debris of porcelain is perhaps a form of rebellion against globalization, marketization, and commodity fetishism.

Liu participated in the China Pavilion, Venice Biennale in 2003, where he presented porcelain replicas of daily found objects that privilege appearance and symbolism over function. In 2008, he shifted his attention on social issues that came with globalization in China to “no meaning, no context,” which declared a fairly new exploration of his creative process with the Untitled series in 2008, and therefore formed “quiet aesthetics,” a fundamental direction leading the perception of contemporary art practice.

*image (left)
courtesy of the artist and TKG+