Tianxing Xu: THE DUET’S CARNIVAL

Chinese American Arts Council/Gallery 456 is pleased to present Tianxing Xu’s solo exhibition: THE DUET’S CARNIVAL, curated by Phil Zheng Cai, on view from July 18, 2025, through August 1, 2025.

Exhibition Statement

I came to play, alongside my second. Our yellow duck pedal boats keep bouncing into each other. My second points to my duck’s reflection on the other side of the water. It joined with its own second- a reflection as yellow and as shinier. Seeing a pile of plastic toys behind a blue banister, I started to count. But is sorting numerical? I nudged the joy stick, extending my hand into a claw in a transparent machine. Is the prize for me or for her? We tried to re-merge into one as the merry-go-round pushed my body into her soul. That attempt was futile. Later that day, the swing I sat on was pushed forward. I thought it was my second, but it wasn’t because she was right there to my left. Even though she seemed frozen, I had a strong feeling that it was her immobility that became my impetus. Tired out, we arrived at a number of chairs formed in neat lines facing the stage. Nobody was performing. I wanted to rest at the back, but she hoped to rush to the front. As we parted to sit separately, the carnival reached its climax when I saw numbers printed on the back of the seats. Was I one or two, I wondered.

I came to play, alongside my first. Our yellow duck pedal boats kept bouncing into each other when I saw his duck turn into two, one above the water and one under. He was on both of them, and so was the moon which had become squishy. We saw a pile of plastic toys behind a blue banister, paired and numbered just like the two of us, one, two, one two. We stood in front of the claw machine. He played while I was praying for his failure, because a captured toy loses its first life inside the crystal box. We tried to re-merge into one as the merry-go-round pushed my body into her soul. That attempt was futile. Later that day we went to the swings. I didn’t wish to move, but happily enjoyed watching my first move. It was only in two directions though, back, forth, back, forth. Tired out, we arrived at a number of chairs formed in neat lines facing the stage. Nobody was performing. We sat down right next to each other, and sang in unison.

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Tianxing Xu’s solo exhibition “The Duet’s Carnival” showcases 7 pairs of works, including 10 paintings, 2 works on paper, and a sculpture co-created by Xu and artist Sangmin Lee during their residency at NARS Foundation.
Xu’s works began with memories of regret, unfulfilled promises, and panic. There are no better places than the carnival - the ultimate controlled chaos to blend euphoria with hysteria. Largely influenced by Jean Baudrillard, Xu’s works, as iterations of simulacrums, substitute the signs of the real to create false orders. Numbers, glitches, color codings appear in his works repetitively only to hint at a fictional logic. Whereas Baudrillard believes a carnival (in his original example, Disneyland) functions as a “deterrence machine,” Xu’s false orders become lures, quite literally “sugar-coating” the era of simulation that we had already entered.
In this solo exhibition, all works appear in pairs, providing a separate line of physical dichotomy in addition to the “reality vs. simulacra” rhetoric which through-lines Xu’s practice. If Baudrillard believes that the confusion of the medium and the message is a dire consequence of the process of simulation, Xu urges us to at least bring a plus one, even if it is yourself. Perhaps we are able to form a duet with our doppelgangers to sing in unison.

About the Artist

Tianxing Xu (b. 1996, Shanghai, China) is a visual artist whose practice encompasses painting, printmaking, installation, and artist’s books. His practice unfolds as architectural plans for an imagined amusement park—one haunted by memories of regret, unfulfilled promises, and panic. Deeply rooted in his reflection on Jean Baudrillard’s theories on symbolism, simulation, and art criticism, Xu’s oeuvre dismantle and reassemble the elements that define the park, through which he reconstructs and simulates stories that never occurred. His restrained yet luminous palette evokes the scorching sunlight that overexposes, bleaches and blurs the memory, while prolonging his search for clarity in recollection. Weaving the self-healing of regret and absence with his reflections on Baudrillard, Xu uses his measured brushstrokes to construct a quasi-utopian realm that sugar-coats the simulation we live in.

Xu’s forthcoming museum solo exhibition will be presented at the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston. His recent solo exhibitions include: Xu Tianxing: After the Orgy, Eli Marsh Gallery, Amherst (2024); Xu Tianxing: COLORING BOOK MFA Thesis, Alexander Hall Gallery, Savannah (2023); Xu Tianxing & Nobuhito Nishigawara: Same Same But Different, Alan Avery Art Company, Atlanta (2023); and Xu Tianxing: Zero Gravity BFA Thesis, East China Normal University, Shanghai (2018).

Xu’s work has been featured in the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento (2024); Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan (2022); NARS Foundation, New York (2025); Miami University, Oxford (2024); Lake City ArtFields Collective, Lake City (2023); MGC, New York (2023); VAE Raleigh, Raleigh (2023); Mason Fine Art’s, Atlanta (2022); VAN DER PLAS Gallery, New York (2024); Li Tang Gallery, New York (2023); Gutstein Gallery, Savannah (2022) CICA Gallery, Gimpo-si, Korea (2022); and Lower East Side Printshop, New York (2024).

Xu has participated in residencies including the NARS Foundation International Artist Residency, New York (2025); 2024 Visiting Artist Residency, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston (2024); Hale Masters of Fine Arts Fellowship Residency, Artists Association of Nantucket, Nantucket (2024); and LESP Keyholder Residency, Lower East Side Printshop, New York (2024). He has been recognized for his artistic achievements with the Merit Award by ArtField 2023 Competition (2023); Annual Artists’ Book Competition Honorable Mention by Savannah College of Art and Design (2023); and Painting Department Memorial Scholarship by Savannah College of Art and Design (2023). Xu holds a MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design and is pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Macau.

Xu currently works and lives in New York, NY.

Opening Reception: July 18, 2025, 5-8pm
Please contact info@caacarts.org for more information.

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Chinese American Arts Council’s Gallery 456 Visual Arts Exhibition Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Gove¬¬¬rnor and the New York State Legislature.