“A User Guide: Tian Jianxin,” Capsule Shanghai at Visiting Sector of Gallery Weekend Beijing
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A User Guide: Tian Jianxin
Capsule Shanghai, through May 31
GWBJ’s Visiting Sector took over 798’s A07 building with tautly curated gallery solo shows. Among the standouts was a witty solo exhibition by Beijing-based artist Tian Jianxin (b. 1994), whose sculptures transform ordinary household objects into strangely anthropomorphic presences.
The exhibition’s title, “A User Guide,” serves as a playful nod to Tian’s process of reactivating old objects while also suggesting an alternative manual for looking at the everyday. Working with found items collected from daily life—including rice cooker pots, Jeep hoods, enamel mugs, safety helmets, and other discarded objects—Tian hammers and assembles each piece in his studio, imbuing these otherwise utilitarian materials with unexpected personality.
Importantly, he rarely cuts or destroys the objects outright. Instead, he works with their existing forms, textures, and traces of use, allowing new figures to emerge organically from the objects themselves. A kettle becomes a hand flashing a Hawaiian shaka-like gesture, also known in Chinese internet slang as the “six” sign, while a flat aluminum tray suddenly sprouts the muscular torso of a male bodybuilder.
Importantly, he rarely cuts or destroys the objects outright. Instead, he works with their existing forms, textures, and traces of use, allowing new figures to emerge organically from the objects themselves. A kettle becomes a hand flashing a Hawaiian shaka-like gesture, also known in Chinese internet slang as the “six” sign, while a flat aluminum tray suddenly sprouts the muscular torso of a male bodybuilder.
Most striking are the various faces emerging from rows of hanging pot bottoms across an entire wall. My personal favorite, however, was a “bra” suspended near the window, assembled from two bowls and thin metal wires.
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