WITHIN, BELOW

Chinatown Soup is pleased to present Within, Below, an exhibition by artists Pearlyn Lii and Pedro Lavin, on view September 18-30, 2023. Please join us for a reception on Thursday, September 21st from 5-7 pm.

Utilizing ancestral mythologies–Lavin with Pan-European faerie folklore, and Lii with Chinese hell cosmologies–as chthonic metaphors for their own interiority, the artists transmute crucial, personhood-defining experiences into lush, digital underworlds. Spiritual avatars, cyber-symbolic echoes of their creator’s core identities, traumas and dreams, inhabit these otherworldly planes.

Under the guise of expansive world-building unfolding across multiple mediums, Lii and Lavin bring forth their rich inner worlds as they revisit past pathos and grapple with themes of otherness: femininity, queerness, alienation and cultural identity. In their hands, self-created, infernal mythology becomes fertile ground for sensual, emotional exploration.

Within, Below follows an evolutionary trajectory of Lavin and Lii’s bodies of work from prequel to present, that both intersects and departs towards a multiplicity of possible futures within their respective underworlds. This explorative exhibition opens a realm where Lavin and Lii continue to develop experimental practices in art, film and performance; expanding their oeuvre into ever more detailed worlds and further evolving their unique perspectives.

Curated by Eileen Isagon Skyers

Produced by Alex Darby

Graphic Design by Virgile Flores

Creative Production by The Hybrid Studio

Pearlyn Lii (b. 1993) is an artist from Hong Kong. Her practice weaves together personhood, neomythology, and the divine feminine as one. Drawing from science and fiction, her work features fictional characters who endure the plight of the human experience—in alternate realities—through embodied performances, augmented reality, and video installations. Avatars sit core to her narratives—often as a conduit for liberation of both artist and audience.

Lii’s fixation on reframing myths stems from a desire to query existing female archetypes. With roots in design and creative direction, her interdisciplinary practice spans over the course of a decade.

Pedro Lavin (b. 1989) is visual artist and filmmaker from Mexico City. His work explores self mythology and ritual; weaving magical realism and oneiric fantasy with his own lived experience to create story. This aesthetic pursuit is rooted in themes of erotism, queerness and desire; the metamorphotic power of nature; and the primal link between the sacred and the profane.

With an extensive background in creative direction for film, animation and VFX; and an audacious, pioneering embrace of novel technology; Lavin’s multidisciplinary practice unfolds across a variety of mediums including drawing, digital collage, film, concept and generative art.