A woman with a cropped bob holds a small laser gun. She poses in a sepia-tinted interior, her silver costume perfectly matched with the Zaha Hadid interior in which she resides. Her head is turned, ever so slightly, giving the camera a small, guileful smile. Beneath her, a man in white linen curls up into a ball, his face obscured. This is just one of the images from Pixy Liao’s latest exhibition at Blindspot Gallery. The New York-based Chinese artist is best known for her long term photography project Experimental Relationship, a series that explores Liao’s dynamic with her boyfriend, Moro. Comfort Zone marks the artist’s debut solo show in Hong Kong, bringing together over 15 years’ worth of work. It’s an intimate display that touches on themes of desire and tradition, inviting viewers to explore complexities of gender and performance.
“As a woman brought up in China, I used to think I could only love someone who is older and more mature than me, who could be my protector and mentor. Then I met my current boyfriend, Moro. Since he is five years younger than me, I felt that the whole concept of relationships changed, all the way around. I became a person who had more authority and power. I started to seriously think about the significance of this relationship, and experiment with photographs.” Experimental Relationship began in 2007, whilst Liao was studying for her MFA in photography at the University of Memphis. Here, she met Moro, who is five years her junior, and began to take pictures of him. Liao subverts the “innocent” or “submissive” woman trope, instead sustaining a dynamic where it is the female partner who is in control. In Bed Wrestling (2019) the couple appear in blue and red spandex singlets. They pose in choreographed wrestling stances, pulling each other’s arms and legs in a muddled entanglement of limbs. In one image, Liao holds Moro in a victorious mid-tackle neck hold. She compares the process to the relationship itself, describing, “As we grow older together, our relationship changes … Part of it is about sharing power with him.”
This is a work that is tongue-in-cheek, straddling a space that exists between performance and autobiography. It’s also sincere – unfurling around a growing, changing relationship. In Space Girl Met Earth Boy (2022), the artist plays a protagonist “who had set up to eliminate toxic masculinity from the face of the universe” but instead “ends up falling for her gentle human subject.” Viewers are confronted with a series of cinematic tableaux that document their encounter – futuristic rooms bathe in dusky yellow light, setting the mood for a sci-fi fantasy love story. Other images resonate with vibrancy and defiance: Moro lies across Liao’s lap, wearing only an apron; Liao reads Emmanuelle, a classic French erotica as Moro kneels naked by her side. In the exhibition’s titular work, Liao appears in a colourful swimsuit and peach sunglasses, her face framed by the open legs of her partner. These pieces wear away the potency of patriarchal symbols, giving us something that is awkward, raw and unruly.
Also included are moments of startling tenderness. G7b9 (2021) captures a pair of hands playing the piano. Afternoon light is cast across the keys, imbuing the photograph with a quiet kind of devotion. The “uncommon harmony” created from the G7b9 chord embodies a unique synergy with which only the couple can resonate. Elsewhere, we see the lovers face each other in an empty bath, their gazes resolutely fixed on each other. Together they hold the shutter release ball, maintaining a chain of cables between their neck. It’s an image that feels like it wouldn’t be out of place in Michael Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film dedicated to the encompassing, amnesiac inducing nature of love. Comfort Zone offers, contrary to its name, anything but comfort. This is a wonderful thing – Liao offers up a world built on ruptured expectations, unease and trust. Lean into the feeling and you’ll find something real.
Pixy Liao: Comfort Zone | Blindspot Gallery
Words: Chloe Elliott
Image Credits:
Pixy Liao, Bed Wrestling 3004, 2019.
Pixy Liao, G7b9, 2021.
Pixy Liao, Space Girl Met Earth Boy 4814, 2022.
Pixy Liao, Space Girl Met Earth Boy 4804, 2022.
Pixy Liao, Intertwined, 2023
