Concrete Playground

Kerr and Judith Neilson of The White Rabbit Gallery describe their extensive and dramatic collection of contemporary Chinese art as a ‘personal anthology’. Indeed The Tao of Now, an exhibition that contains the work of over 40 artists, is a little like going to an apartment where the art has clearly been chosen with resolved taste, steadfast vision, and an appreciation for immaculate production - there is seemingly nothing out of place. In fact, there is a pursuit of something in this collection that is tricky to describe and elusive to define, and so to cover this failure on my behalf, its probably best left to a personal test. Whether there is philosophical illumination or universal principles to discover (as the use of the term Tao might suggest) is difficult to say, but its unreasonable to assess individual works based on a title that is, somewhat arbitrarily, placed over the artwork like a desperate umbrella. There is art here that will spark questions, curiosity and reflection, and other work that may slip by you without the need nor the inclination to take a second look.

Image: Chili, Red Star Motel Series, 2009.