Chinese conceptual artist Tao Mao is back at Galerie Anne-Claire Simon for a new solo show including photographs from several of his eponymous series. The exhibition, entitled Lies for the Liars, offers a reflection on the philosophical theme of the Liar Paradox (following the formulation of Epimenides).

The artist makes his own proposition of the truth, served to spectators that are liars, or maybe they are not. The ambiguity between language (act) and metalanguage (description of the act of language and its signification) is here transposed to art, the exhibition aiming to interrogate visual language as well as its intrinsic and/or expected interpretation. Are we honest in our appreciation of art, or are we just responding to codes that we know and learned how to analyze? Tao Mao troubles the representation, notably by breaking the codes of hyper-aesthetics in the research of a signification without influences. But is it only possible? Seeking the Truth in codified elements is it really an option?

At the occasion of Lies for the Liars, the resolution of the paradox goes through a sprawl in the space, in both figuratively and literally. The exhibition presents an overview of the different axes that guide the practice of the artist. He plays with codes of art and luxury industry, as well as the automatic response that they produce in us. The tragicomic reality of his pictures evokes however a world of illusions and he handles with humor a dramatic daily life on a silk square.

Before moving to the Occident, Tao Mao lived in China, in a context of drastic changes that have had a considerable impact on his approach. He systematically interrogates what he sees by looking at the most different angles of analysis possible, until questioning the real itself. Here, although none of the photographs has been staged before, we get this impression of a composition. According to the artist, it is a way to create a sense of “non-reality” and to blur the boundaries between real and absurd.

The photograph The closer to reality we get, the less intelligible it becomes, chosen as the main visual of the exhibition, translates this interrogation is here applied to a domain where it is well known: fashion (and the counterfeiting it implies). The motto of the artist, interrogating the imaginary through the concrete, here finds a resonance in the fact that it is possible to lie in general while still stating the truth about something in particular. Reverie is omnipresent, sometimes even questioning the real, always with a lot of humor.

In his practice, Tao Mao also likes experiences and uses science in his creative process as a mean to transform the rational into reverie. He addresses unexpected subjects with humor. His work is an ode to life and his instantaneity, inspired by everything that builds our everyday life. His strength is to know where to find poetry, and sometimes even solace. Whether it is through memories or current experiences, he invites the spectator to apprehend small details with the same fascination as him.