He Xiangyu: Inherited Wounds, 2022-2023 / Art Basel Unlimited 2023

With Inherited Wounds, He Xiangyu once again investigates the boundaries between imitation and authenticity, outcome and process. The 24 chairs in this work, which the artist found in schools, are marked with doodles and scratches, suggesting an innocent violence and destructive resistance against ‘homogenization.’ These chairs are neatly arranged in three diagonal lines, presenting a rigorous sense of order. A group of miniature chairs follows the same pattern, each preserving the physical experience of the original in a grotesque fashion that is both anthropomorphic and artificial. These replicas also inherit the trauma produced by the oppression and restriction of individual identity. Reflecting each other, the two sets of chairs convey the continuity of the wounds produced by discipline and rebellion.

He Xiangyu (born 1986 in Dandong, China) manifests his cultural practice in multi-year projects that span sculpture, drawing, installation, and video which shift the perception of cultural signifiers through an examination and manipulation of material. He lives and works in Berlin and Beijing.