Drifting Through the Ethereal Realm — Dirk Tsai

Under the gravity of memory, imagination folds between disappearance and generation. From 24 March to 1 May 2025, artist Dirk Tsai lived and worked in Hangzhou as part of the LIAN · GALLERY 2025 Artist Residency Project. During this time he developed a body of wall based and floor leaning works that take water, space and time as their central axes. Inspired by the West Lake, the Grand Canal and the Qiantang River, the project explores a condition that appears still while remaining quietly in motion. Old lanes coexist with glass towers, while craft traditions meet new technology. From these overlaps emerges the idea of a floating boundary, where past and present, stillness and movement are never clearly divided. Through observation, research, making and display, Tsai creates streamlined sculptural paintings whose curved frames recall canals, bridges and streets. Layers of translucent acrylic evoke fog, ripples and the instability of memory, allowing one area to appear frozen while another drifts. Lake greens, smoke blues, old brick tones and the open intervals of ink painting connect the works to Hangzhou. The project is not a portrait of the city, but an invitation to move through its shifting histories and experience quiet within change, and movement within quiet.

The residency led to the exhibition Unnamed Shapes — Dirk Tsai & Yang Wan Dual Solo Exhibition.