For the artist’s first presentation with the gallery, Macau-born Lau will create an immersive space, covering the length of two exhibition walls with a hand painted backdrop, following the Shan Shui painting tradition – the Taoist belief in the sacredness of mountains as the dwelling pace of immortals – that stands behind ceramic totems that have been carefully and painstakingly built and glazed by hand, molding a tactile connection to the ephemeral identity of home.
Works in this exhibition build from the hollow and imperfect geometric forms of Lau’s previous work ‘Skeleton of the Universe.’ The forms are based on the inner workings or the ravaged remnants of both real and imagined architectural forms, like an old shipyard, Jacob’s ladder, fossilized creatures, and ritual objects used in mourning.
Using archaic artifacts and symbols, Lau pulls direct inspiration from the architecture and tenement houses of her birthplace that have mostly been demolished or modified beyond recognition. She recreates the histories that have been lost through time, simultaneously deconstructing and rebuilding these models into new hybrid forms. She pulls from Taoist mythology and cultural superstitions as essential source material, through which she explores a symbiosis between the grotesque and the beautiful, the real and the imagined– myths, ruins, and their hauntology.
Following the artist’s presentation with Geary at NADA New York, Lau will be part of a group show at Spring Break titled The First Ages. Lau also received a commission at Triple Canopy this November (under their theme ‘Resentment’) and will be performing in collaboration with artist Xiaoshi Vivian Vivian Qin in November at their event space. Lau will also be working at the Joan Mitchell Foundation Residency in September and October.
Booth 2.08
NADA New York Open Hours:
Thursday, March 8, 7pm – 10pm
Friday, March 9, 11am – 7pm
Saturday, March 10, 11am – 7pm
Sunday, March 11, 12pm – 6pm
