Whilst in London, I visited the free exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery called Rong Bao Is Me- on until 12th May 2024 if you want to catch it! I wanted to see how she displayed her mixed media work in an exhibition space and how she combined paintings with interactive sculptures to possibly influence my own exhibition space.
Warning! Do not go to this exhibition if you may be inclined to have a closed mind!! There are many playful and unusual exhibits from which the viewer must interpret their own meaning – allowing us to question the exhibition.
Entering the exhibition space, you are greeted with the Exhibition Statement printed on a pink sticker and stuck to the wall. It’s large and easy to read and the colour ties in with the exhibition theme. Printing this onto sticky vinyl seems to be a popular method of showcasing it and makes me consider how my own statement could be made different. Possibly framing the statement or placing it at the end of the gallery might work, allowing guests to think of their own understandings and then at the end find out the real interpretation (or in other words, my intended meaning).
The exhibition is full of quirky moving sculptures that create a fun and playful atmosphere for the work. From fun blue towers rippling to small vibrating aliens, Bao’s work never provides a dull moment and is always impressive.
My favourite piece was the giant spinning pink jelly cake looking sculpture, those are the only words I can think of to describe its weirdness. Weirdness embraced, I Loved it!!!
It was interesting to see how she placed four paintings on the wall as, before arriving, I thought these might get lost alongside the excitement and size of the sculptures. However, they were on a wall on their own and the unusual expressions and aspects of the distorted faces intrigued me just as much as the fun sculptures.
My one issue was with the sculpture called Futile Ascent -1.0 Fragile, as it made this loud shattering glass sound that after a while became very annoying and I felt as though it didn’t fit in with the rest of the playful work. The box ironically labelled ‘fragile’ sounds broken and shattered, fails every time to climb a moving conveyer belt. The meaning behind the sculpture was impactful and twisted to Bao’s modern perspective very cleverly. However, I believe it should have been displayed elsewhere as it did not fit with the colourful colour pallet of the rest of the work displayed.
Overall, this exhibition allowed me to think how I might incorporate fun and quirky elements into my exhibition space. Entertaining visitors is perhaps as important as giving them food for thought. Go with an open mind and I think you will be impressed.