Architect Li Han presents his solo exhibition 'Life Models' at Hermès Maison
The exhibition "Life Models"
Beijing-based architect Li Han is holding his solo art exhibition "Life Models." Featuring murals, sculptures and installations on the fourth floor of the Hermès Maison in Shanghai, it engages visitors to explore the close connection between architecture and life with the models he creates.
The mural "Ideal City," also a relief, depicts chaotic and complex urban spaces filled with hustle and bustle, combining the elements of the everyday city space – buildings, roads, bridges, municipal facilities, transportation, and daily necessities – in a high-density collage. Li presents them in a panoramic manner with his unique architectural drawing method, on a giant wall made of EPS panels. The prototype of the wall comes from a gable wall in the Hermès Maison.
The sculpture "Becoming A Monument" shows how three first-generation housing in China, built in the 1950s, looks like today after 70 years. The rapid urbanization makes the three buildings, located in the same area and with the same function, present completely different looks. Through the linear juxtaposition, the work showcases the transformation process of architecture over a long period of time, balancing between practicality and monumentality, materiality and spirituality.
The installation "Cave" is a window hole. It's a variant of the arch window in Western classical architecture, and also the embodiment of the traditional Chinese cave dwellings. It's also a mini gallery, which displays another work of the artist "Suddenly This View," a series of urban sketches by the artist using models.
Through these small models with a scale of 1:100, ordinary urban scenes discovered by casual glances are recorded in a fast, simple and direct way. These humble city corners, such as a coffee shop, a security company, a bus station, a public toilet, or a village temple, are filled with the poetry of everyday life.
Li displays his observation and understanding of life in an architectural way. Individuality and community, local and metropolitan, past and future, reality and dream, all these contrasts are hidden in urban architecture, transforming architectural models into everyday life scenarios.
He is recently invited to design the new summer windows of Hermès Maison in Shanghai. Entitled "Scape of Urban Object," the window display, through highly expressive colors and staging, invites viewers to change their perspective and reimagine their urban surroundings, interspersed with Hermès collections.
The men's universe window
Exhibition info:
Date: Through June 11
Venue:4/F, Hermès Maison in Shanghai
Address: 217 Huaihai Rd M.
淮海中路217号
