Reincarnation, London
Unit London Gallery

08th Nov 2018

9 November–22 December 2018 · Unit London, Hanover Square, London
Private view: 8 November 2018

Reincarnation was Jacky Tsai’s largest UK solo exhibition at the time, bringing more than twenty works into Unit London’s Hanover Square galleries. Presented alongside Asian Art in London, it traced an artistic language shaped by Chinese craft traditions, Western popular imagery and the artist’s own cultural experience.

New Paintings, Layered Narratives

Shanghai Tang Café, Wedded Bliss and The Pole Dancer introduced expansive scenes filled with characters, landscapes and personal references. Their saturated colours offer an immediate encounter; close looking reveals the narrative details and shifting relationships within each composition.

The Floral Skull in Space

A monumental leather floral Skullpture hung at the centre of the gallery, translating Tsai’s recurring skull imagery into a physical form. Flowers and living creatures occupy a shape associated with mortality, expressing the possibility of renewal within decay. Lacquer carvings including Dream in the Deserted Garden and Parade offered a different sense of depth through their worked surfaces.

In Conversation with ArtReview

On 10 December, Tsai joined Mark Rappolt, editor-in-chief of ArtReview, for a conversation at the gallery. Unit London co-founder Joe Kennedy also took part. The event placed discussion alongside the exhibition, offering another way into the ideas behind the works.

An Anniversary Edition

A special screenprint released with Unit London in December marked the tenth anniversary of Tsai’s floral skull design for Alexander McQueen. Glow-in-the-dark ink and hand-applied rose-gold leaf introduced changing effects of light and surface, extending the exhibition’s interest in transformation into an edition.

Explore the ArtReview × Unit London conversation →

Read Unit London’s original exhibition press release