Concrete Playground

Upon sighting the work of Charwei Tsai, all the irritating background noise rumbles and fades into the distance. Quietly consuming all attention are Buddhist mantras delicately handwritten on the surface of ice, tofu and lotus leaves.

Flouting the art = commodity equation, Tsai’s installations are an exquisite meditation on the relentless passage of time, as her natural artworks deteriorate and die before their audience.

Tsai has been artist-in-residence at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation for the month of October, where she created the spiritual jungle that is Water, Earth and Air. Co-curated by Tsai and Suhanya Raffel of the Queensland Art Gallery, this exhibition is on show until late December.

Regular visits are recommended to bear witness to the slow mutation of texts on the rotting canvases, and in doing so, experience the full spiritual thwack of this awe-inspiring show.

Image: Charwei Tsai, Lotus Mantra ll, 2006, black ink on fresh lotus,dimensions variable. Image courtesy Zhuang Wubin and Singapore Biennale