2011, the Year of the Rabbit in Chinese astrology, marks two Great Hops Forward: the tenth birthday of the White Rabbit Collection, and the first ten years of the 21st century, whose Chinese contemporary art inspired White Rabbit’s founding. So for our fourth exhibition, A DECADE OF THE RABBIT, we’re in celebration mode.

The Collection started in late 2000 with a handful of pieces. Ten years on, it includes the works of more than 160 artists, in media from calligraphy and oil painting to embroidery, animation, and interactive video. Together they document a decade in which, having fast-forwarded eagerly through the history of modern Western art, Chinese artists leaped into the future with works as boldly original as they were technically masterful.

A DECADE OF THE RABBIT traces this era of hops and change through the work of 30 artists, mixing stunning new works with viewer favourites from earlier shows. Among the highlights:

    * He An’s illuminated-sign installations, which reflect on multiple meanings of the urban underworld
    * I Watch Myself Dying, Bingyi’s arresting visual record of her torment after being horribly burned
    * Zhou Jie’s porcelain city, in which the buildings resemble organic growths
    * a startlingly realistic street doorway, made by Gao Rong with nothing but fabric and thread
    * Yuan Jia’s hilarious sculpture of a roast duck riding to freedom on a galloping table
    * the exquisite seascapes of Shi Zhinying
    * the woven-wire “shadow” of a Jeep chassis, painstakingly (de)constructed by Shi Jindian

The exhibition opens at 10 a.m. on Friday, February 25, 2011. Come and enjoy the show—it’s free!