A Chelsea gallery exhibit, newly opened, is likely to be THE talk of the New York art scene this year, and it will certainly be included in my Chelsea “Best Exhibits” tour on Sat. Jan. 14, as one of 7 shows we’ll visit that day. The piece is a massive sculptural installation by a Chinese artist who made international headlines when he was arrested by the Chinese government last year, and was tortured for weeks. His stated “crime”? Tax evasion, according to the Chinese authorities. Closer to the truth: some of his artwork is a negative commentary on the Chinese government and Chinese society. Just before they arrested this artist, they bulldozed his new state-of-the-art Beijing studio that was 2 years in the making.

The Chelsea exhibit we’re going to see on our tour premiered recently at the London’s Tate Museum, where it caused a sensation. It consists of 5 TONS of hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds, each one meticulously made by Chinese artisans. The work is a profound, mind-boggling meditation on labor, mass production, and the tenuous relationship between collectivity and individualism in contemporary China. If you attend the tour, this will be an exhibit that you’ll remember for years to come.

This artist’s most recent New York solo gallery exhibit took place 4 years ago, and was also included on my “Best Exhibits” tour at the time (this was before he was the subject of so many headlines). That installation consisted of an enormous red chandelier that had fallen to the ground, and it was a not-so-couched allegory to the “red” government of China that was collapsing from its top-heavy weight. We all walked in and around and through that chandelier in amazement.

Though the artist was finally released from jail, he is in fragile condition from his torture, and he and his artwork are forbidden from leaving China. The reason we’re going to get to see his sunflower installation in Chelsea at all is that it was showing in London for several months, and then recently shipped straight to New York.

I will feel honored to introduce you to this great artist’s momentous work this coming Saturday, just one of 7 extraordinary exhibits we will visit.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York Gallery Tours