At Frieze New York 2023, the Stand Prize 2023 has been awarded to Capsule Shanghai(Shanghai, China, Stand F7) for their outstanding solo presentation of Liao Wen in Focus, the section at Frieze New York for galleries aged 12 years or younger.
This year’s jury of institutional curators and directors included Elisabeth Sherman (Senior Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections at International Center of Photography), Jasmine Wahi(Founder and Director of Project for Empty Space) and Drew Sawyer (Curator at The Brooklyn Museum).
Capsule Shanghai announces "we are thrilled about winning the Stand Prize for the Focus section at Frieze NY with Liao Wen’s project ‘Naked’ and grateful to the committee for this rewarding opportunity. After three challenging years due to travel restrictions from China, this edition marks our coming-back in person to the NY fair and we received the warmest welcome to her work from the local and international public.
Liao Wen has brought together such an ambitious project that in its complexity presents to the public the core elements of her practice. We are also very excited about the upcoming opportunities unfolding from Liao’s debut in NY."
At Frieze New York, Capsule Shanghai presents a solo project by artist Liao Wen. The wall reliefs and free-standing sculptures on view probe bodily perceptions deep beneath the skin. She contemplates the uniqueness of the body as the most intimate perceptual medium by studying its inner sensations, postures, and ways of looking at the body, and explores how sensations and behaviors are shaped by societal values and power dynamics.
The semi-circular booth at the fair is painted skin-like pale yellow with a hole in the wall that allows the viewer to peep into the booth, creating a voyeuristic experience and a sensation of entering an intracorporal space. The floor sculpture Stare depicts a straddling human figure, which evokes upright birthing position, excretion and erotic imageries. The work addresses our disconnection with body parts that are anatomically and symbolically unreachable.
In the series of wall reliefs 'Within', Liao recounts daily sensory experiences - deep breaths, thirst and micturition urges - in an abstracted sculptural language. Inspired by Roman votive statues, the works visualize intense intracorporal sensations that are otherwise only perceivable as a result of physiological stimulation or trauma, and awaken consciousness of the mechanism of bodies.
May 19, 2023
