Shao Fan: The Nature of Things

Shao Fan: The Nature of Things brings together a selection of three-dimensional works and paintings by the artist. Since the 1990s, Shao Fan has repeatedly returned to the chair as a structural prototype, through which the relationships between material, structure, and the emergence of form are examined.

In these works, the traditional mortise-and-tenon system is no longer simply a method of construction. It functions as a generative principle, from which form comes into being. Rather than following predetermined models, forms emerge through the dynamic balance of tension and relation. Since the turn of the millennium, Shao Fan has gradually pushed this logic toward a more autonomous level of form. This exploration of generative processes extends naturally to the threshold between three-dimensional and two-dimensional realms. The paintings are therefore not representations of a three-dimensional world but manifestations of the generative processes themselves.

Across three-dimensional work and painting, Shao Fan’s practice explores how material, time, and structure give rise to order. The Nature of Things reflects the artist’s ongoing inquiry into how forms come into being, and how the logic of making continues to shape our understanding of the world. 

From 22 March 2026, Mirrored Gardens invites friends to enter the space of Shao Fan’s works, where the nature of things unfolds as a moment of insight—opening a way to perceive how the world comes into being.

About the Artist

Shao Fan, art name: Yu Han. Shao Fan was born in 1964 to a renowned family of artists in Beijing, where he has lived ever since. He studied painting with his mother and father from a young age. Since the 1990s, his artistic practice has spanned a wide range of mediums, including three-dimensional works, oil on canvas, ink on rice paper, garden design, and architecture, exploring the transformation of materials across different times, spaces, and states of consciousness. 

All art works by Shao Fan © the Artist
Courtesy of the artist and Vitamin Creative Space.

Vitamin Creative Space

Shao Fan: The Nature of Things

Dates
22 March – 28 June 2026

Venue
Mirrored Gardens, Space 1& Space 2

Address
Hualong Agricultural Grand View Garden, Panyu District, Guangzhou

Daily Opening Hours
Wednesday–Sunday, 1–5 pm (closed on Monday and Tuesday)
Hours may vary on public holidays or under special circumstances, please check our website or WeChat Public Account for the latest updates.

Visitors are kindly requested to make an appointment in advance via the “Visit” page on the official website of Mirrored Gardens.

Website: mirroredgardens.art
Contact us: mail@mirroredgardens.art
Tel: +86 20-31043759
Press: PR@vitamincreativespace.com