Tao Siqi returns with 'The Naked Eye' at Capsule

"The Naked Eye," an exhibition featuring over 20 new oil paintings by Shanghai-based artist Tao Siqi, is on view at Capsule through November 1. This marks her second solo show with the gallery. Known for painting throughout the night, Tao conjures charged, dreamlike worlds where tenderness, desire and taboo intersect.

The title implies not only nudity but also a stripping away of perception – an invitation to see more clearly, yet never completely. Tao crops her scenes, revealing only fragments of bodies and light that oscillate between intimacy and unease.

Inspired by Virginia Woolf's "Orlando," Tao's works are about fluidity across time, gender and identity. In pieces like "Mirror" and "Fading," first-person perspectives draw viewers unsettlingly close to acts of transformation, while "Mad Love" and "Melting" blur the lines between pleasure and pain.

With luminous palettes and layered glazes, Tao Siqi depicts a world that is both humid and toxic, seductive yet fragile – urging us to look closer, with our naked eyes.

Date: Through November 1 (by appointment only), 10am-6pm (Tuesday to Saturday)

Venue: Capsule Shanghai

Address: 1/F, No. 16, Lane 275 Anfu Rd

安福路275弄16号1楼