Capsule Shanghai is pleased to participate in Liste Basel 2021, presenting Wang Haiyang's solo project Human, Beast, Ghost.
Widely known for his multimedia animations unsettling viewers with unpredictable scenarios, Wang Haiyang (b. 1984 in Shandong, China) ventures with this project into a new pictorial challenge.
The works on show, realised between 2018–2020, comprise a series of watercolours on paper and a work on canvas.
Human, Beast, Ghost expands Wang's investigation of existential topics by transferring them into a surreal, multi-dimensional hedonistic space of pink wall tiles recording a piece of Wang's memories - a visit to a now-demolished gay sauna in Beijing.
The paperworks on show, realised between 2018-2019, portray a whimsical yet haunting collection of abstract creatures emerging out of watery splashes of colour, exploring the chaotic associations between sexuality, social disorder, and spiritual intoxication. Scenes of revelry evolve in the face of disruption, the physical forms melting away as identities dissipate yet sexually coalesce.