Hasta La Ideas

Lin Tianmiao’s presents a thread-covered apocalypse at Beijing BCA

by Alessandro De Toni

After two years of absence from the art scene, Lin Tianmiao is back for the largest solo exhibition of her career with new works at Beijing Center for the Arts (BCA). As one of the most important Chinese contemporary female artists, she’s renowned internationally for her ability to transform threads and textiles into staggering works of art, as seen in “The Same”.

Her latest exhibition makes an amazing descent into an inner world in which life and death coexist—objects, mainly artificial bones, are covered in gold or meticulously wrapped in colored silk threads. A massive amount of ox, lamb, pig, dog, cat, rabbit bones, tools and wires are crafted into enchanting objects and recombined to create a powerful visual effect.

In one room entirely lined in black cashmere, scattered animal bones and whole skeletons create a sort of dark apocalypse. What at first sight seems like a scene of fierce violence and chaos soon reveals the stunning beauty of a seemingly endless exercise of craftsmanship. More than twenty people have been working for three days to stage this single installation, in which every single piece has been covered entirely with gold foil.

The exhibition continues on the basement floor of the BCA, with an installation of paradoxical tools wrapped in grey silk thread–half organic, half mechanical—and gigantic, tri-dimensional canvases.

The title of the exhibit, “The Same” speaks to its recurrent concept that what seems uniform from a distance gives way to reveal the subtle differences which exist within a world of opulence and diversity.

“The Same—New Works by Lin Tianmiao”

Through 10 March 2012

Beijing Center for the Arts

No.23 Qianmen East Street, Dongcheng District

Beijing 100006