A common result of walking through any art fair is realizing that, after two hours, no more than a handful of works remain in your memory. And the ones that are on view at Capsule Shanghai’s Frieze New York booth are likely to be among that handful this time around.
In the Focus section for young galleries, Capsule is showing work by Tao Siqi. Upon passing the booth, a double take is almost compulsory. Sensual, violent scenes—bondage, asphyxiation, and other kinky activities—are depicted in fluorescent yellows and reds. Tao’s works are inspired by Les Fleurs du mal, the French poet Charles Baudelaire’s 1857 exploration of beauty, decadence, eroticism, and the duality of human nature. Baudelaire explored love’s dark side; Tao does so, too.
Some of the works are framed in metal, and chainmail curtains drape along the booth’s back wall, a nice touch. “Siqi uses a lot of metal in displaying the work,” said gallery manager Zhiyi Zhou. “She wants to create a juxtaposition between the coldness, the hardness of the metal against the softness, the warmth of the lust, and the human flesh that she’s portraying in the paintings.”
