Tao Siqi 陶斯祺, Snare 陷阱, 2025

In “Snare” (2025), Tao Siqi captures and portrays a fleeting moment where touch and restraint, temptation and danger intertwine. A hand emerges from a shadowy crevice. Its damp, viscous texture glistening ambiguously beneath the shifting light. The hand transcends from an extension of the body into a potent symbol of psychological and emotional states. It speaks to the inherent contradictions of human emotions — a simultaneous longing and fear, an urge to approach and a desire to retreat.

Tao Siqi's paintings are rooted in her fascination with the body and flesh as a medium of sensibility and sexuality. She delves into desire of all forms through her intense colors, delicate brushstrokes and characteristic close-up perspective. By creating a tension between beauty and destruction, tenderness and violence, temptation and taboo, her surreal scenes inspire a provocative viewing experience and conjure emotional unease, flickering between pleasure and pain.

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 "Games People Play" (Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York, USA, 2024), "Deep! Down! Inside!" (Hales Gallery, New York, USA, 2023) , "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.

《陷阱》（2025）捕捉的，是触碰与束缚、诱惑与危险交织的一瞬。这只手从黑暗的缝隙中探出，潮湿、粘稠的质感在模糊和变幻的光影中显得暧昧不明，像是画面内在世界的流动和暗示。在这幅画中，手不仅是身体的延伸，更是心理与情感的象征，它同时指向了人类情感的矛盾：既有渴望，又有恐惧，既有接近，也有逃避。

对身体和肉体作为感性和性的载体的迷恋，是陶斯祺在绘画实践中探索的主题。她以强烈而灼热的色彩、细腻的笔触和独特的特写视角来研究各种形式的欲望，试图在美丽与毁灭、温柔与暴力、诱惑与禁忌之间创造一种张力，引发一种挑衅性的观看体验，并触发情感上的紧张和不安。这些画面带有超现实的气息，在快乐与痛苦之间摇摆不定。

陶斯祺于1994年出生于中国湖北武汉，现工作生活于上海。她于2016年毕业于湖北美术学院油画系，获学士学位。她的个人展览包括 "Trembling", Fortnight Institute，美国纽约（2022）；"Deep Water"，Clima, 意大利米兰（2022）；"嫩刺"，胶囊上海，中国上海（2021）和 "暂存"，chi K11 艺术空间，中国武汉（2015）。群展包括 "Games People Play"，Nathalie Karg Gallery，美国纽约（2024）；"Deep! Down! Inside!"，由莎拉·福克斯策展，Hales Gallery，美国纽约（2023）；"F*ck Art: The Body & Its Absence"，性博物馆，美国纽约（2022）；"Notes on Ecstatic Unity"，OTP Copenhagen, 丹麦哥本哈根（2022）；"Mouthed Echoes", Lyles & King画廊，美国纽约（2022）；"闲有闲时多云到阴"，由陆向怡和王诗颖策展，穿越时空的调色板--2022草场地青年艺术家群展，设计之春·北京草场地艺术生活示范区先生活设计，中国北京（2022）；"Nine Lives", Fortnight Institute 画廊，美国纽约（2021）；"IMPORT-EXPORT/输入-输出"，IMPORT EXPORT PROJECT，瑞士洛迦诺（2019）；"匿于眼后"（由莎拉·福克斯策展），胶囊上海，中国上海（2019）；"苹果序曲"，梦办，中国北京（2018）；"力的能见度"（由鲁明军策展），J: GALLERY，中国上海（2017）；"春日地陷"，RS_PROJECTS，中国武汉（2016）等。