Tu Wei-Cheng: Happy Valentine's Day
Exhibition Dates. 18 Dec 2024 – 18 May 2025
at White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
Artist. Tu Wei-Cheng
2011
plastic, glass, timber, paint, metal, screen printed walls, adhesive vinyl
700 x 700 cm
Tu Wei-Cheng’s recurring theme of simulated reality is evident in ‘Happy Valentine’s Day!!’, an installation in which the sense of smell is first tantalised and then repelled: the aroma of chocolate wafts out of what seems at first to be an old-fashioned confectionery shop. Shelves and counters display heart-shaped boxes with pink satin bows, and an array of enticingly packaged chocolates. On closer inspection the ‘chocolates’ turn out to be in the shape of weapons, hand grenades and tanks – the machinery of war. And they are made of plastic, not chocolate. The smell is created by a chemical sprayed into the air. Tu Wei-Cheng explores how menace and aggression can lie beneath love and romance, in a veiled message about the tense relationship between his birthplace of Taiwan and Mainland China.
Part of current exhibition XSWL at White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney
event link
It’s all fun and games…until someone loses an eye.
China’s digital age is a vibrant playground where memes, virtual WeChat stickers[1], puns, and jokes are used to bypass censorship and address politically sensitive topics. To keep up in this rapid-fire environment, phrases are often condensed into acronyms. The Chinese internet slang XSWL, short for “xiào sǐ wǒle” (笑死我了), means “laughing to death.” It echoes the English “LOL” but with a twist; when viewed more literally, it suggests that light-hearted fun might mask darker games at play.
Historically, Maoist Communism vilified leisure as bourgeois decadence, branding idleness and play as threats to productivity. Today, this perspective has been upended by the “Lying Flat” movement, or “tǎng píng” (躺平) in Chinese, which rejects excessive labour and underscores a broader critique of societal pressures. All work and no play has resulted in many young adults abandoning their jobs, opting to become “full-time children.” Similarly, the popularity of “sàng” (丧) culture among urban youth—a trend marked by a pervasive sense of despondency—reflects a shift toward black humour.
In this context, art becomes an arena where the stakes are high and social boundaries are pushed to their limits. Harmless fun comes at a steep moral price that the astounding artists in XSWL are more than willing to pay. Wild colours, cartoon imagery, and everyday playthings sit in sharp contrast to an underlying sense of violent humour. Tongue-in-cheek creations shatter once-innocent veneers, warning us that it’s all fun and games… until someone loses an eye.
Text via White Rabbit Collection - Photographed by Nani P - post via instagram @nani.visit
