Cao Fei

La Town is an experience that consists of equal parts enchantment and confusion. Cao’s photo draws the viewer into a dark, seedy and crumbling town: La Town. In La Town Cao highlights both the mundanity and vice of contemporary society through the creation of an obviously fake, alternate world modeled on our own.

Bright, artificial colors, and the sort of omnipresent night and severe lighting one might find in a neo-noir film characterize the film. Roughly hewn, yet vividly human wax dolls and plastic buildings act as substitutes for real actors and locations. Nebulous phrases, only ever half-informing the viewer of La Town’s fate and history. 

Cao Fei is one of the most innovative young Chinese artists to have emerged on the international scene. Currently living in Beijing, she mixes social commentary, popular aesthetics, references to Surrealism, and documentary conventions in her films and installations. Her works reflect on the rapid and chaotic changes that are occurring in Chinese society today. Cao Fei’s works were showcased at a number of international biennales and triennials, including Shanghai Biennale, Moscow Biennale, Taipei Biennale, the 15^th & 17^th Biennale of Sydney, Istanbul Biennale, Yokohama Triennial, and the 50^th, 52^nd & 56^th Venice Biennale. She also exhibited her works and projects at Serpentine Gallery and Tate Modern in London; New Museum, Guggenheim Museum, and MoMA in New York; Foundation Louis Vuitton, Palais de Tokyo, and Centre Pompidou in Paris. Cao Fei’s recent projects include the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at Guggenheim Museum and retrospective at K21 Dusseldorf.