The Towada Art Center is excited to present the first-ever exhibition in Japan dedicated entirely to the work of Shanghai-based artist Liu Jianhua. Growing up in the city of Jingdezhen, ancient home of porcelain, Liu spent time working in a porcelain factory before studying sculpture, and now uses clay, stone, glass, pottery and other materials to create sculptural objects and installations on the themes of economic and social change in China, and the issues arising from this transformation.

The exhibition title Fluid Void calls to mind hollow pottery forms and the flow of glaze, but also indicates Liu’s approach to art-making, which involves incorporating in his works a “meaninglessness” devoid of either meaning or content. The title is also related to the current state of society, with its ever-expanding empty things both tangible and intangible. Here delicate, fragile pottery speaks of these most hollow of times.