FANTASY AMERICA

Chinatown Soup is pleased to present FANTASY AMERICA, a collection of the most current drawings, paintings, and sculptures by artist-in-residence Xiaofanx. Please join us for an opening reception on Thursday, September 26 from 6-9pm. This exhibition is Xiaofanx’s first solo showcase in New York and will be on view through September 29.

For the past four months, Xiaofanx has remixed famous western paintings and sculptural totems through his own signature symbols that are derivative of a universal, corporeal language. The skeleton, our most basic internal component, represents the connection of all living beings throughout the artist’s works. Concerned with the relationship between body and mind, Xiaofanx questions why people look outside themselves for a sense of individuated identity. Instead, his art suggests that we might all look within to find shared belonging and inspiration.

By questioning the western canon through the motif of an exposed skeleton, Xiaofanx introduces ancient eastern philosophies that call for synchronized development of mind and body as a pathway to worldly understanding. This tradition posits that the human being is a confluence of four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. Xiaofanx incorporates these fundamentals into cross-cultural artworks. For example, ‘Holy Fantôme’ is his interpretation of the Virgin of Guadalupe and functions as a sculptural burner to diffuse fire into air. Maintaining a balance of both western and eastern practices through visual, wearable, and functional artworks is essential to the artist’s sense of wellbeing.

China-born Weiyi Fan (aka Xiaofanx) is the Founder of Anitya Fantôme (ANITYA FANTOME, LLC), an art and fashion brand based in Miami and Shanghai. For the past five years, Xiaofanx has produced solo exhibitions and fashion pop-ups from the United States to China. In 2017, he was honored to present "Fantôme Opera" at Waowig Studio in Miami and exhibit at HOW Art Museum in Shanghai. Both projects received critical acclaim. During Art Basel 2017, Xiaofanx debuted Reborn, a next level presentation of his fashion label, Anitya Fantôme. His label was then selected as one of 50 Best Menswear Shops in the United States by Base Superstore, which later sponsored an exclusive, limited edition line of his pieces for the Wynwood Miami. Today, Xiaofanx enjoys expanding his mediums and traveling the world to create more art.