Initiated by Tabula Rasa Gallery, the Space Exchange Project aims to promote cross-regional collaboration between art institutions in different parts of China and to encourage communication between artists through "gallery occupations" that regularly swap exhibition contents between different galleries.

Following the group exhibition "Chen Pai’an, Wong Wing Sang, Wu Sibo", a collaboration between Tabula Rasa Gallery and Canton Gallery that took place in Beijing in May, 2018, Canton Gallery will present "That's Quite Something" (November 24, 2018 - January 6, 2019), an exhibition of the latest works by artists Xiao Hanqiu and Tant Zhong.

During the process of creation, Xiao Hanqiu often feels as though she has lost her physical vision: instead, her deep emotional connection to people, objects and events become her eyes, and her imagination of the frames of things encourages her to keep perfecting the art of "perception" and to become one with her surroundings through the dissolution of her own "existence". On the other hand, Tant combines different media and materials in her work and manages to construct a subtle, seamless extension within a limited space by "controlling" the natural tempo of everyday objects. She attempts to balance different forces and stores this intention briefly in the folds of time. Xiao and Tant's works have both left tangible trails on the coordinate plane of space and time; with traceable outlines, their creative practices coincide and become "quite something".

Courtesy of the artists and Translated by Wei Ran

About Artists

Xiao Hanqiu (b.1986, Beijing) received her master degree from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK in 2011. Xiao Hanqiu’s work puts individual moments of emotion in the context of "a prolonged timeline"; through the resonance generated in this process, the artist hopes to investigate the existence of other beings in relation to herself in order to paint its "form" and "image". Her recent solo exhibitions include, Self-portrait, Tabula Rasa gallery, Beijing, China (2016) and Skating through the gallery with tricksy snakes, Tabula Rasa gallery, Beijing, China (2018) ; From 2009 to 2014, Xiao Hanqiu alsoparticipated in several group exhibitions in China and overseas, such as Steles II, Ying Space, Beijing, China (2018); Le romancier na?f et le romanciersentimental, Asia Now, Paris, France (2016);

Tant Zhong's works are hard to classify, fluctuating between raw formalism and comic whimsy. Mass produced objects are elevated into sensual arrangements that shelter unexpected jokes. Often her works lack definitive boundaries, spilling into each other and absorbing space, leaking their world view out of the gallery and into the wider world. Implicit in the works is a challenge that all things can be seen formally and elevated to the realm of aesthetics, never forgetting the absurdity of such a task.

About the exhibition

Dates: Nov 24, 2018 - Jan 6, 2019

Venue: Canton Gallery

Opening: Nov 24, 2018, 15:30, Saturday

Courtesy of the artist and Canton Gallery.