ALIEN CRADLE

Chinatown Soup is pleased to present Alien Cradle, an exhibition of art objects and illustrations by Shuoran Zhou and Xuan Liu on view April 4 - 9, 2023. Please join us for an evening reception and artist Q&A on Thursday, April 6th, from 6-8 pm. 

Alien Cradle explores origination, identity, and longing through shifting landscapes of cultural perspective. 

Xuan’s illustrations chronicle a forgotten astronaut traveling through the cosmos as a metaphor for the artist’s experience in a foreign country. Floating in the liminal space of unfamiliar geographic and psychic terrain is a pervasive 21st-century phenomenon that precipitates dislocation and loneliness for many. Viewers are invited to consider how isolating circumstances can augment individual agency and complicate the familiar concept of home. 

Shuoran approaches related questions of (dis)embodiment and belonging through Curtain, a beaded, hanging mosaic, and Cradle, a series of beaded objects that carries messages about the female experience of being overlooked and undervalued in systems of social organization and mechanized production. The artist challenges common perceptions of beads as frivolous, decorative, and “for women” by performing the laborious and technical process of molding them into works of art. Each cocoon-like piece can be considered a unique defense against the rejection and alienation that attach to traditional understandings of upward mobility within (and outside of) civilization. 

Shuoran Zhou was born in Beijing, China, and is based in Brooklyn, NY. She combines beading with metalsmithing techniques to create jewelry and objects that provoke reflection on the social expectations of women. Shuoran graduated with an MFA in Studio Art from Syracuse University and a BFA in Oil Painting from the China Academy of Art. She has exhibited in China, Spain, Belgium, and the United States, as well as online. Shuoran is currently teaching an introduction to jewelry-making at Brooklyn Metal Works.

Xuan Liu is an illustrator based in Brooklyn, NY, focusing on editorial illustration. She works in digital and traditional media, creating zines, prints, and books. She graduated with an MFA in Illustration from Syracuse University and a BFA in Landscape Design from the Beijing University of Technology. She has exhibited in New York State, and this exhibition marks her second showcase in New York City.