Talking Arts: At That Time This Moment

People probably first get to know Li Xiaoliang (Alex) from his dynamic cover shots of fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, GQ and Vogue China. 

For over 10 years, his work has been centered on the glamour and drama created by fashion and entertainment industry. 

A great number of super stars and artists worldwide were captured in his lens, including Ang Lee, Tony Leung, Sophie Marceau, Zaha Hadid, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Hiroshi Sugimoto. 

Yet his passion and interests go beyond his professional commitment to commercial photography and flourish in his long-term personal projects in rock music, contemporary lifestyle, and the omnipresent information technology. 

In 2021, he became the first Chief Photographer of Rolling Stone China, which he reckoned ‘the coolest tag’ on him ever. 

In the same year, he launched his debut solo exhibition at UCCA lab, Beijing, displaying his experimental work with artists ‘Back to Black,’ and two international award-winning projects ‘Peking Apartment’ and ‘Lonely Planet,’ exploring respectively cultural identity of international fashion models in Beijing and urban lifestyle dominated by smart devices. 

In the past three years, he continued to extend his personal projects as he examined further the recurrent issues as to who defines our standard of aesthetics.

The rapid development of information technology in relation to human connection, hence its impact on our perception of life, and further, where is it leading us? 

This summer, he is presenting his particular perspectives in his solo exhibition ‘At That Time, This Moment’ in Shenzhen, inviting his audience to participate in the discussion. 

In the meantime, he is working on his soon-to-be-published photo album bearing the same title while hosting two other exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai.

Left: Rock N Room, Right: Peking Apartment. Photo by Rachel Wu/That’s

Alex’s approach to his exhibition in Shenzhen is anything but conventional. 

He divides the gallery into interconnected rooms, with the exception of an independent glass unit at the corner. 

The rooms correspond with his 13 photography projects. 

Sitting at the very centre is his creative work with movie stars and directors, titled ‘At Spot.’ 

The rest of his projects spiraled organically from the centre, with his early documentation of rock musicians ‘Rock N Room’ and ‘Peking Apartment’ in proximity of ‘At Spot,’ then his experimental work with computerized images as in ‘Journey to Nowhere,’ ‘Here & There,’ ‘Melting Wax’ positioned at the peripheral. 

Left: Melting Wax, Right: Journey to Nowhere, photo by Rachel Wu/That’s

From the visitors’ perspective, as the curator, describes it, those rooms are juxtaposed in the gallery to form a ‘maze,’ where each room is both an independent space of a series and an entry point to the adjacent rooms. 

Visitors get to choose their own paths through the exhibition, making the rooms part of a non-linear narratives. 

Left: peephole installed at Journey to Nowhere, Upper Right: Peking Apartment, Down Right: an automobile headlight installed at Not Really an Accident. Photo by Rachel Wu/That’s 

Alex is keen on soliciting interaction in the exhibition. 

The lighting, temperature of each room, composition of the images and small installations like peepholes, screens, an automobile headlight and a mirror, are carefully designed to inspire spontaneous photo creation from visitors. 

The room ‘Echo’ is dedicated to interaction. 

It’s a public version of his early project ‘Back to Black’ in which he invited artists to post in a basic setup with a black table, a bench, light bulb on top swinging back and forth and soothing background music. 

Photos taken were in black and white. 

Alex once commented that ‘Back to Black’ came as a windfall as it captured a very different side of the artists when they were immersed in such a simplistic setting, relaxed and just being themselves. 

Echo. Photo by Rachel Wu/That’s

Project ‘Echo’ is a more vibrant installation, adding two overhead projectors, one at the front and the other at the back. 

It takes advantage of the delay in image transmission so that the visitors will see an infinite replication of their actions on the two screens. 

It seeks curious and fun improvisation from the audience. 

For the past three years, the project has successfully solicited over 100 thousand dynamic and versatile images in 7 cities. 

Packaging. Photo by Rachel Wu/That’s

The glass unit, titled ‘Packaging,’ another impressive feature in the gallery, posts an interesting contrast against the interconnected layout. 

The entrance is locked, so the room is meant for view rather than experience. 

Four poster-sized photos line up on the side window façade while inside the room display photos of models dressed in mixed packaging materials against a crimson background. 

At the far end of the room, a vertical screen is placed, rotating close-up shots of materials used on the dresses. 

The conceptual clothing, complex gown design, dramatic styling, as well as the luxury brand logos exposed make it a designer house fashion show. 

The room layout follows his persistent inquiry into who defines our standard of aesthetics. 

Alex raised these questions in one of his interviews, “In our industry, we tell the general public what the most delicate facial features are, what fashion is, and what the future trend is.”

“But who offers the correct answers, and when do these answers emerge?”

Xu Ning, the founding editor of the Chinese version of Bazaar Art and the current director of Green Bazaar Lab, commented back in 2012 that standards of aesthetics have never been defined by the general public but by elites or core theorists and artists. 

Alex would probably agree with Xu Ning’s observation that this independent, transparent, and view-only design of ‘Packaging’ is just his way of visualizing his questions. 

Alex offers a key made of grey cardboard paper to each visitor as a souvenir to take home. 

On the giant backdrop, there are 9 keys varied in shape and size. 

The keys are more of a metaphoric significance; it’s his best wishes that we all will find our individual keys to the questions that baffle us in this changing world.  

Exhibition Information: 

At That Time, This Moment 

Until August 25, 2024

Sea World Culture and Arts Center

No.1187 Wanghai Road, Shekou, Nanshan, Shenzhen