THE BUTTERFLY OF STYX RIVER
Chinatown Soup is pleased to present 奈奈何川蝴蝶 The Butterfly of Styx River, an exhibition of wearable sculpture, performance, and film by Weina Li that is on view February 25 - March 8, 2020. Please join us for an opening reception on Friday, February 28 from 6 to 9pm.
Weina’s art practice celebrates humanity’s passionate pursuit of unconventional love. This multimedia exhibition intertwines the artist’s personal love trajectory with romantic stories from eastern and western traditions. Traditional Chinese literature often presents love as bound by the dictates of gender norms. The concept of deep love as an impulsive, supernatural passion is applied to women, while men are extolled for embracing devotional values like piety and loyalty.
Weina subverts this positioning of her cultural heritage, in part, by invoking western literary characters such as Don Juan, whose libertine approach to seduction and pleasure defies the longstanding hegemony of conservative attitudes about social relationships. Depicted as an old man, Weina’s Don Juan suggests that new possibilities for expressions of love should be respected.
Not limited by gender, age, or sexual preference, the artist is able to formulate a retelling that combines different dimensions both metaphoric and visual. Intricate, hand-woven costumes made of wire, crystals, sequins and other precious materials are displayed in static, hanging form. A theatrical short film captures these elements in motion, as a festooned artist and retinue examine subtle emotional layers through performance. Becoming the butterfly of Styx River, Weina celebrates self-assurance, devotion, and the tragic beauty of love as it dies over again within the resurrectional power of story.
Weina Li (b. 1994) grew up in Beijing, China and earned her BFA ’18 from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. After graduating, she moved to New York to explore multimedia art. Over the past two years, Weina’s practice has focused on social issues and her pursuit of sincerity.