Wizard Tang

Lives and works in Beijing, China

Artist statement

The Replicated Uniform Expression This body of work focuses on the everyday situations of ordinary people within contemporary social systems, and how these situations manifest in the material world. The project began with my long-term observation of discarded and stockpiled objects in urban stairwells. These miscellaneous items that spill from private domestic spaces into public corridors appear as remnants of the inflated desires of our era—after being briefly filled, expanded, and celebrated, what remains is a persistent, ordinary hunger. They reflect the complex and continuous relationship between the desires, emotions, and consumption of ordinary people. In modern society, people are constantly promised more convenient, richer, and more ideal lives, while new anxieties and desires are simultaneously and continuously produced. Shopping, waiting, signing for packages, unboxing, and the ever-renewing cycle of consumption have gradually become ways for many to obtain fleeting pleasure, relieve pressure, and sustain daily life. Through digital collage, visual deconstruction, and reassembly, I re-create these objects. After unrestrained imagination, they acquire unfamiliar and stimulating visual experiences, hovering between the real and the fictional. Ultimately, the images are translated into installation works that take the form of “opened express delivery boxes” constructed from stainless steel, wood panels, acrylic, and other materials. Ready-made objects such as iron...

Artwork