Installation view, Post-Natural Oasis
Post-Natural Oasis
Closing Friday, August 22, 2025
120 East 65th Street, NYC
Don’t miss Post-Natural Oasis, before it closes August 22 at Alisan Fine Arts! This summer group exhibition brings together Shuyi Cao, Fu Xiaotong, KKD, Leah Ying Lin, Andrew Luk, Man Fung-yi, Anna Danyang Song, and Yi Xin Tong in a striking collection of sculpture, wall reliefs, and object-based works exploring humanity’s evolving relationship with nature. What might a post-natural world look like—whether in the future or along an alternate geological timeline?
Though many pieces incorporate elements from nature, none are truly “natural.” Instead, they probe our instinct to assign cultural meaning to the natural environment. Poetic yet critical, these works balance fragility with absurdity, sincerity with satire. Crafted to appear humble—even charming—they quietly interrogate the violent legacies of exploration, reflecting the layered ambiguities and shifting meanings found in diasporic experience.
Be sure to immerse yourself in these captivating works before they’re gone!
To learn more, click here.
Installation view, Wang Mengsha: Borrowed Shadows
Wang Mengsha: Borrowed Shadows
Closing Friday, August 22, 2025
Also be sure to view the first U.S. solo exhibition of Beijing-based artist Wang Mengsha before it closes August 22! Known for her ability to blend traditional Chinese painting with a contemporary sensibility, Wang reinterprets the classic ‘xieyi’ style with bold colors, playful imagery, and a touch of humor. Her work often draws on everyday objects, elegant figures, historical Chinese garden settings and scenes from nature, echoing the landscapes and culture of southeastern China.
Wang describes her paintings as dreamlike and fluctuating—like shadows that flicker in and out of view. Rather than aiming for realism, she creates imagined spaces where objects and figures change in scale and perspective. Her concept of “Borrowing Shadow” reflects this approach: using recognizable forms to build a personal, poetic world inspired by Eastern philosophy.
Using a technique from traditional Chinese painting known as scatter-point perspective, Wang builds her compositions in a flowing, intuitive way. This approach allows her to move freely through memories, emotions, and ideas—rather than following a strict or linear story. Hibiscus Garden is a tondo filled with symbols of good fortune – birds, flowers, deer, scholar rocks and other dreamlike objects to invite viewers into a playful world full of curiosity and wonder. Enchanted Purple Gourd is similar, although in this piece there is a pair of bathing maidens as its central subject, surrounded by recurring characters and objects: a cartoon-like tiger, giant birds, roses, and as the title suggests, a vibrant purple gourd. Her art gently questions how we hold on to imagination in a world that often asks us to let it go.
To learn more, click here.