Jacky Tsai

New paintings on view at Unit London, include, Shanghai Tang Café (2018) and The Pole Dancer (2018), which maintain Tsai’s unique and instantly recognisable kaleidoscopic graphic style. The works highlight the influence of Western culture on Tsai’s practice, specifically by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Vibrant superheroes and other western pop imagery are saturated by eastern landscapes, cultural symbols, craft and personal references to Tsai’s own family.

Jacky Tsai’s iconic floral skull, designed for the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen in 2008, reflects the artist’s engagement with religious and spiritual themes. Tsai’s recurring use of the skull motif challenges the prevailing notions of superstition and fear associated with death in Chinese culture. Blooming from the bones, the flowers, butterflies and bees in Tsai’s ‘Skullptures’, celebrates the beauty in decay. The artist sees “the skull as a symbol of opportunity for new beginnings, rebirth from death”.

Tsai’s diverse works have garnered international acclaim and media coverage. Tsai is the first Chinese artist to be represented by the prestigious Fine Art Society and he has exhibited worldwide with exhibitions at Contemporary by Angela Li in Hong Kong and the Museum of Modern Art Moscow.

Special thanks to HUA gallery for their support.