NYAB Event - Li Liao “Attacking the Boxer from Behind is Forbidden”

Li Liao “Attacking the Boxer from Behind is Forbidden”

Klein Sun Gallery

This event has ended.

Klein Sun Gallery presents a solo exhibition by multi-media artist Li Liao.

Li presents a new performance piece, Attacking the Boxer from Behind is Forbidden (2015), which features a boxer crouched in the gallery from 12pm to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday; as visitors enter the gallery, they unknowingly also enter a silent ‘boxing ring’ of tension, and the boxer’s volleyed gazes and defensive stances act as cues for participation and reaction. Interrupting the white walls of the commercial space, this performance complicates our sense of expectation.

Contextualizing this piece are older works by Li which also touch upon the themes of probability and possibility. In the looping video, A Slap in Wuhan (2010), Li is seen waiting with his eyes closed for a visitor to arrive and the video only concludes after a stranger, hired through an online forum, turns up and physically assaults him as per instructions. Single Bed (2011) shows Li sleeping in public spaces in Wuhan, China, surrounded by puzzled onlookers. Finally, 100 images that make up Weight Loss Plan (2011), a photographic chronicling of Li’s journey surviving on just 350 Renminbi a month – the same amount of money he used to spend per month ten years ago.

Li Liao was born in 1982 in Hubei, China. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, Hubei, China, with a BA in 2005. His work has been the subject of notable museum exhibitions including “2015 Triennial: Surround Audience,” New Museum, New York, NY (2015); “Hugo Boss Asia Art,” Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2013); “ON/OFF,” Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2012) and “rites, thoughts, notes, sparks, swings, strikes. A hong kong spring,” Para/Site, Hong Kong (2012).

Media

• Performance Art

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