Thomas Liu Le Lann — 17 — Xippas Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: March 13 → June 12, 2021

For his first exhibition at Xippas Paris, Thomas Liu Le Lann presents a new set of sculptures and paintings that cover a wide spectrum of techniques. Entitled 17, the exhibition features velvet paintings adorned with sick vinyl hearts, oversized glass lollipops, a pair of shoes, a replica of the pharmacy cabinet in his apartment, a poem intended for a lover, and other artworks. This collection of works will be accompanied by a soft hero sculpture, both guardian and actor of this installation.

Exhibition view, Thomas Liu Le Lann, 17, Xippas Paris, March 13 — June 12, 2021. Photo: Frédéric Lanternier

Thomas Liu Le Lann is a multidisciplinary artist who creates installations in different media including sculptures in fabric, glass or wood, paintings, poetry and found objects and generates environments that reference the history of art and popular culture, but also the most ordinary events of everyday life. The artist plays with hierarchies and questions themes of identities, gender, appropriation and social relations.

Exhibition view, Thomas Liu Le Lann, 17, Xippas Paris, March 13 — June 12, 2021. Photo: Frédéric Lanternier

In 2018, the artist introduced a figure of “soft heroes” which seeks to deconstruct the dominant heroic model and its cumbersome representations. True protagonists of his work, these sculptures are endowed with human manners, they lasciviously inhabit the artist’s exhibitions and are identified with people dear to him.

Exhibition view, Thomas Liu Le Lann, 17, Xippas Paris, March 13 — June 12, 2021. Photo: Frédéric Lanternier

Thomas Liu Le Lann is a French artist born in 1994, he lives and works in Geneva. In 2018, he won the HEAD — Galerie award. Xippas gallery, by awarding this prize, offered him the opportunity to present his work in an exhibition within its spaces in Geneva. The same year, he won the New Heads — Fondation BNP Art Awards, thanks to which he was invited to present a solo exhibition at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Le Locle as well as at the BNP Foundation stand at artgenève.

Among his personal exhibitions are Best Western at LUBOV (New York, US), Show Down at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Le Locle (Le Locle, Switzerland), I’m not okay at the Galerie Vin Vin (Vienna, Austria) and 07.19 at Maladie d’Amour (Grenoble, France). He participated in group exhibitions, such as Studies on Empathy at the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard (Paris, France), Henry Darger Summer Camp designed by Extramentale (Arles, France) and Plattform # 19 at the Center d’Art Contemporain — Yverdon les Bains (Yverdon les Bains, Switzerland).

Thomas Liu Le Lann also co-founded and co-manages Cherish, an artist run space based in Geneva, in collaboration with Ser Serpas, Mohamed Almussibli and James Bantone.