Hang Over Shanghai
Shanghai, China
My parents have recently fallen under the spell of online shopping. My mother obsessively buys cheap "export-quality" items from Taobao live streams—the woman who hadn't purchased a single piece of clothing for me in over twenty years now buries her bed in these acquisitions. My father favors shoddy, inexpensive products like LED lights. Because they burn out so quickly, he often daisy-chains multiple power strips together, crowding one corner with lights of varying brightness and color temperatures. He's also taken to hiding giant bags of snacks beneath my bookshelf. Following these traces, I recently returned to my old desk and opened the second drawer on the left, where I discovered relics from my adolescence. In my junior high school graduation yearbook, at least three people had written in the messages section: "I used to really hate you," before explaining how we later became close friends. I've been wondering when exactly those adolescent emotions began to crystallize—to the point where they felt justified in using a word as strong as "hate."
This new series explores intimacy in the digital age under the framework of cruel optimism, drawing inspiration from Lan Caihe of the Eight Immortals and centering on the concept of trance — a state of daydreaming and idle detachment. Lan Caihe, who came from poverty with no defined gender, unknown age, and often manifested madness, eventually attained immortality. Three faceless, bodiless sculptures wearing flip-flops, inspired by this figure, examine states of possession and dislocation. Each sculpture is inscribed with "Ideally”, “here”, “then what” and “I can not focus”. Jil Sandals, poised as if ascending, steps on the Five of Diamonds and the Two of Clubs from a deck of cards, along with a Joker. The number 52 corresponds to the repeated digits in the artist’s childhood home phone number and is also a homophone for "I love" in Chinese. The Joker’s status and abilities resonate with Lan Caihe’s background, while mosquito coil adorns the vortex. The Wig End is surrounded by crumpled pages from a graduation yearbook, with a partially raised calf evoking a sense of sinking. As for Nester, nestled in its crotch are nine-seasoned olives, purchased online by the artist’s father.
installation view
Jil Sandals
Dimensions variable, 2025
Watercolor and oil on paper-mâché sculpture, playing cards, mosquito coil
Nester
50x22x19 cm, 2025
Watercolor and oil on paper-mâché sculpture, preserved olive
The Wig End
Dimensions variable, 2025
Watercolor and oil on paper-mâché sculpture, yearbook page
installation view, Courtesy of Hang Over Shanghai
Photo credit: Ling Weizheng