"Gate on Ningbo Road" by Liu Dao

// BLURB //
“The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end…Every ultimate fact is only the first in a new series” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Circles"

Emerson recognized the contingency of our world and our tendency to frame our experiences within paradigms. For example, the earth was flat until it was spherical. It will remain spherical until it is not anymore. When and if some new evidence convincingly shows a different way of understanding the world’s shape, a new age will dawn. This is the nature of how truth is created in our world. Truth is a function of relevant fact and agreement among relevant parties. When we think of aesthetic truth, this fact becomes especially clear. I can claim that Pollock’s paintings are beautiful and his methods groundbreaking, but you may have what you feel is an equally valid claim that Pollock was a hack. Depending on the context of where and how we are having this conversation, one of us may hold a larger truth-claim and thus be considered correct. What happens when you apply this example to the Earth’s shape or the best way to hoola-hoop? Is it madness or greatness?

// EDITION, MEDIA, SIZE & WEIGHT //
Unique Edition, Shanghai 2019
TFT display, acrylic painting on Plexiglass, teakwood frame
65.3(W)×46.3(H)×6.5(D) cm // 10.5 kg

// EXPOSURE //
“Perimeters, Edges, and Walls” at island6 Shanghai Main Space

// CREDITS //
Owen 欧文 (painting) • Katrina Louy 卡萨琳娜 (performance) • Thomas Charvériat (art direction & animation) • Yeung Sin Ching 杨倩菁 (production supervisor) • Carlin Reinig (blurb)