Ecstasy: Li Bangyao Solo Exhibition

Tang Contemporary Art Bangkok is delighted to present key works by Li Bangyao, created from 2007 to 2020, including the most recent pieces from his Indoors series and important works from his Personal Manual, Theory of Evolution, and Origin of the Species series. Works from his Ecstasy series will also be shown in this exhibition.

As one of China’s most important Pop artists, Li Bangyao focuses on the symbolic qualities of the structural systems of objects. Through the refinement of specific symbols for social development and everyday life, he deconstructs and encodes the personal aesthetics, collective memories, and social issues symbolized by objects in a visual language characterized by flat forms and clear outlines. Using Pop Art, he responds to Jean Baudrillard’s research into the shifting meanings of objects in a consumer society.

Today, the use and exchange value of objects have been transformed into symbolic value. How can we banish the specter of consumerism and resist the seduction of Jean Baudrillard’s ecstasy? Through the symbolic study of objects, Li Bangyao produces a mechanism for dialogue and generates an intermediate vehicle. The objects return to their ordinary state, regressing to a covert discourse and signifying something extraordinary.