The career of Cao Xiaodong, whose dot-pattern paintings contrast cultural icons of China with those of the United States, “has always been marked by a keen interest in history,” according to critic Yang Wei, who notes: “If there is a creative impulse driving every artist’s career, then the search for the vestiges of time is Cao Xiaodong’s.”  The artist’s oversized paintings are featured in the gallery’s current exhibition, “SAVE AS: Contemporary Chinese Art Born of Ancient Traditions,” his first major exhibition outside the Far East. A typical Xiaodong painting contrasts Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, surrounded by beaming young women wearing the dowdy uniforms of the period, with a youthful Hugh Hefner, who led a very different sort of revolution in the Western world, embraced by doting Playboy Bunnies oozing out of their skimpy, fluffy-tailed Bunny outfits. The exhibition, which runs through Feb. 28th, will include two dresses and a jacket fabricated by Li Xiaofeng of ancient Chinese porcelain pieces after the conclusion of the Bridge Art Fair in Wynwood. More artworks here.

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