The exhibition title, Shadow of Things, can be interpreted and viewed in several different directions. It is not based in a philosophical, historical, or psychological idea that requires selected artists’ works to support a curatorial premise; but It is a poetic phrase that came to mind one morning like a cloud passing by my window. Although it is complex in that it suggests many avenues of thought, it is more simply about relationships; relationships between things seen and things unseen, the mutable and the immutable, body and spirit, form and meaning. What relationally happens to an individual artwork when placed in a group of other artist’s works in a shared neutral space? And what is the relationship between the curator and artist?

Oftentimes shadows are seen as darkness, the dream world, or the presence of evil, but they are also a place of refuge from the heat in the cool of the shade. They are like sketches or outlines of things seen, or they prophesy as harbingers of unseen things to come. One Biblical account tells about an apostle whose shadow healed the sick people lying on the side of the road as he passed by. In the case of this exhibition this would illustrate the power of the artist’s creative spirit radiating outward into the world through their work. Ancient cultures developed devices for telling time and seasons called sundials or shadow clocks. They were instruments to show the time of day or seasons of the year by the shadow of an object cast by the sun on a cylindrical surface. These are but a few of the many references to shadows found in diverse cultures throughout time. They could be real or metaphorical links to the installation design of works in the gallery space or to the individual works themselves.

What is a “thing?” It is a really useful word that describes something or anything that can’t readily be described for one reason or another. Art constantly presents to the public the question of “what is it?” It is not always necessary to know what some works of art might be or mean, but just to allow oneself to ponder and enjoy or be challenged by them for what you see is enough. As a noun the word “thing” normally would refer to 3 dimensional or sculptural objects. But even 2 dimensional paintings and photographs depict and record 3 dimensional things. The Dhana series of photos of Xie Hongdong and the clay sculptures of Edie Xu, are both steeped in a grey relationship of shadow and thing. We can partially recognize them but not define them completely. Xie’s Dhana series resemble spirits or shadows drifting out of Xu’s ancient bone-like archeological discoveries.

Robbin  Heyker’s and Stephen Gleadow’s long years living in the old Hutongs and outer rings of Beijing provided them an endless source of still life mysteries and discarded materials for their paintings and sculptures; such as cardboard or pieces of wood leaning against the exposed tires of vehicles parked on the narrow streets, boarded up broken windows covered in years of colored plastic bags, duct tape, slats and nails, a slap of paint on the side of a building to cover up previous markings, discarded stools, torn banners, books, and papers. Their works in their own unique ways illustrate or shadow the immediate day to day culture around them.

Ye Su’s ink paintings are narratives culled from his dream life. They are like individual frames of a surrealist film and are flooded with strange people, places, shadows, and things surreal and things known. There are 18 individual paintings in his Tannu Uriankhai series but are installed as one massive tableau, one life long narrative in one second.

Liu Dongxu and Dan Er both borrow from specific and diverse cultures reinterpreting their common household, commercial, and industrial objects into minimalist sculptural forms. Liu appropriates objects and brings them out from their original context while Dan Er actually goes into different cultural environments to absorb and create from within.

One important element I have not mentioned directly is “light.” Shadows cannot be seen without light, light of the sun or artificial light of a gallery. Light always represents truth and truth reveals all things hidden. It exposes details and motives, beauty and ugliness, and even has the power to cast the shadows from our sight.