Yuz Museum is blowing up with KAWS and Zhou Li this season

This month, Yuz Museum welcomes pop and graffiti artist Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, with a survey exhibition of his 20 years of work. The Brooklyn-based illustrator/painter/sculptor/ designer/toymaker recently helped design the latest edition of the Air Jordan 4 sneakers, with the sole of the shoe accented by one of KAWS’ signature art works. KAWS’ exhibition is on display alongside Chinese contemporary artist Zhou Li’s three-metre-tall abstract paintings, in a pairing that might appear unusual at first glance.

But Yuz Museum has got it right. The first floor of the massive 9,000-square-metre aircraft hangar brings a futuristic sense of international cool, balanced by Zhou’s contemporary pieces on the second, in the artist’s first solo exhibition since a show at the National Art Museum in 2001. Here’s what to expect.

KAWS WHERE THE END STARTS

KAWS’ exhibition is like a double espresso to the brain. If you like your art served with a side of sass and a helping of sarcasm, KAWS has you sorted. His body of work conveys humour, irreverence and a love of pop culture – and his artistic skill is extraordinary.

If you’ve never heard of him, you’ve undoubtedly seen some of KAWS’ famous character creations, with even one of America’s most-loved families, The Simpsons, falling prey to his dark imagination in his subverted series The Kimpsons. Disturbing but delightful, KAWS’ works offer a cynical-but-witty look at the American takeover of world pop culture. Perhaps best known for his larger than life sculpture creations, over a career spanning the last two decades KAWS has refined a set of creepy-cool hybrid human-cartoon figures with crossed out eyes. Inspired by popular logos and commercial advertisements, the figures are the strongest examples of his exploration of humanity, with names like Chum, Companion and Accomplice they express a range of human emotions in a manner that is almost sadistic, but oddly reassuring in their familiar cartoon-like appearance.

KAWS: WHERE THE END STARTS is at Yuz Museum until August 13. Entry 150RMB per person.

Zhou Li Shadow of the Wind

If you feel like you need a quiet space after the chaos of KAWS, Zhou’s Shadow of the Wind has got you covered. The chilled-out art space on the second floor of the Yuz brings all the Zen feels and some awe-inspiring artistic skill to boot.

Zhou has been on the Chinese contemporary art scene for years, having drawn attention due to her use of a range of different media. However, after a 16-year hiatus, Zhou’s series of abstract paintings are unexpected, created over the last two years. In the rectangular 1,000-square-metre hall of the Yuz, the works are said to create ‘a spatial field’, based on the concept of the heart as the core of the exhibition.

In a space that struggled to cope with Andy Warhol’s Shadows series, Zhou’s paintings appear made for it. The curation offers a peaceful space that tugs on the heartstrings and encourages quiet contemplation of the works. The art is striking, not least for its incredible size – some of the paintings measure over three metres in height and width.

For the majority of the works Zhou uses a delicate blend of pale pinks, grey, white and black, with two large red canvases offsetting the collection at the end of the room. The perception of the work is deceiving, with deeper exploration of the art encouraging the audience to stand both closer and farther away from the canvases.

Despite their similarities, each masterpiece is mesmerising in its own right, and under huge expectation, the new works of Zhou Li do not disappoint.

Zhou Li: Shadow of the Wind is at the Yuz Museum until June 4. Entry 60RMB per person (30RMB per person for students and seniors).

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