Tao Siqi's practice of painting originates from her seeking of metaphors hidden under the surface of an object. The positive and negative grounds of an object intrigue her to explore its emotional undercurrent on the canvas.
The unusual subjects in Tao's paintings - the fountain in a haze of dusty blue, the softness of the metal weapon, and the melting snowman - transcend their signifiers, and reflect the tension between reality and illusion. Rooting in her keen observation and sensitive perception of the times we live in, her works aim to trigger personal emotional experiences through the construction, extension and deconstruction of images.
Tao Siqi was born in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in 1994, and currently lives and works in Shanghai. She graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Art with a BA in painting in 2016. Her solo exhibitions include “Trembling” at Fortnight Institute (New York, USA, 2022), "Deep Water" at Clima (Milan, Italy, 2022), "Tender Thorns" at Capsule Shanghai (Shanghai, China, 2021) and "Transient" at chi K11 Art Space (Wuhan, China, 2015). Her group exhibitions include "F*ck Art: The Body & Its Absence" (Museum of Sex, New York, USA, 2022), "Notes on Ecstatic Unity" (OTP Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022), "Mouthed Echoes" (Lyles & King, New York, USA, 2022), "Indoor Weather", curated by Lu Xiangyi and Wang Shiying (Light Palette Through Time and Space - 2022 Caochangdi Young Artists Group Exhibition, Beijing, China, 2022), "Nine Lives" (Fortnight Institute, New York, USA, 2021), "IMPORT-EXPORT" (Import Export Project, Locarno, Switzerland, 2019), "Right Behind Your Eyes", curated by Sarah Faux (Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai, China, 2019), "The Apple Incident" (Dream Co., Beijing, China, 2018), "On Drawing: Visibility of Power" curated by Lu Mingjun (J: Gallery, Shanghai, China, 2017) and "Chūn rì dì xìan" (RS_PROJECTS, Wuhan, China, 2016) among others.
