Exploring art is the elephant in the room

"Elephant, Elephant, Elephant" – a launching exhibition for Book Maoxiang – a bookshop cum art space, recently opened in Suzhou.

Supported by Xin Huan Culture & Creativity, the bookshop aims to let readers go "beyond the books, into the world."

Curated by Shanghai Pearl Art Museum, the exhibition is divided into two parts, on the first and second floor of the bookshop.

Part One features various images of "elephants" copied from those representative artworks both in Chinese and Western art history, such as the elephants in Indian and Islamic art. These prints help viewers explore the cultural and artistic meanings in these elephant images.

Also under the subject of elephant, Part Two is a joint exhibition featuring the paintings, calligraphy and video works created by French artist Benoit Vermander and Chinese artist Wu Junyong. The two artists conduct a spiritual dialogue with a sense of humor.

For example, Vermander's "Great Shape is Beyond Form (大象无形)," a series of ink-wash paintings, is actually inspired from his interpretation toward the phrase in "Dao De Jing," or "The Classic of the Way and the Virtue" by Chinese ancient philosopher Lao Zi.

Meanwhile, Wu's inspiration comes from the mysterious legends about elephants that he heard when he was a little boy or from the Western and Oriental mythological literature. Apparently, Wu's tableau is filled with the de-construction of those legends, fables and allusions. Viewers would find his unique expression in "The Blind Man Touches the Elephant," an old Chinese allusion, at the exhibition.

Exhibition info:

Date: Through February 28, 9:30am–9pm

Address: Bldg 22, Fengmaoli, 8 Lijiang Rd, Suzhou

苏州高新区科技城漓江路8号