Shuai Xu (b. 1995, China; lives and works in California) examines the conditions of visibility, spatial arrangement, and scale through the construction of site-responsive situations. Utilizing structures as spatial devices, Xu’s work resists immediate consumption by cultivating unstable perception and partial presence. His investigations move beyond narrative, engaging the viewer in a slower form of looking where understanding is altered rather than resolved.

Xu holds an MFA from Claremont Graduate University and a BFA from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. Solo exhibitions include Chaos Coordinate System (2023) at the Newhall Community Center, California. Selected group exhibitions include presentations at the UCLA New Wight Biennial (2024); Venice International Art Fair (2024); Alliance Française de Pékin (2024); and Sasse Museum of Art (2026, 2023). His practice has been critically recognized and featured by international media including CNN, Artsy, Fad Magazine, and Contemporary Art Issue.

Can you tell us about your background and how you started your artistic journey?

I was born in Henan, China, and I am currently based in Los Angeles. My practice began with painting, but over time I realized that what I was interested in was not only the image itself, but also the conditions around it. I became increasingly attentive to how a work appears, how it is encountered, and how perception changes depending on distance, light, and movement. Because of this interest, my work gradually moved beyond painting. Some ideas require space, scale, or the viewer’s physical presence in order to exist. This led me toward installation, sculpture, and occasionally land-based works.

I usually do not begin with a clear narrative or message. Often the work starts from a small perceptual tension, something that feels present but difficult to name. The work develops slowly from that point.

You work across painting, land art, installation, and sculpture. How do you decide which medium fits an idea best?

The medium usually emerges from the situation that the work requires. If the idea can exist within a surface, painting is often the most direct form. When the work depends on scale, distance, or the movement of the viewer, it naturally becomes installation or sculpture. Land-based works appear when the surrounding environment itself becomes part of the structure. I rarely decide the medium first. The form of the work usually reveals itself through the conditions it needs.

You have shown work in both China and the United States. Has working between these contexts changed the way you think about space, audience, or artistic language?

Working in different cultural contexts has made me more attentive to viewers as individuals rather than as a fixed audience group. People bring their own experiences and ways of looking, and those differences are always present. In my process, the main adjustments usually happen in relation to materials and space. Each site has its own conditions, so I try to respond to those conditions in a direct way.

Conceptually, however, my approach has not changed very much because of cultural context. The core questions in my work remain the same.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative in your experience?

One thing that always interests me is that an artwork does not stay fixed in its meaning. I find uniform explanations or a single interpretation of a work quite uninteresting. What I value more is how my own understanding of a work can change over time as my experiences grow. 

I am also very grateful for the different interpretations that viewers bring to the work. Each person encounters it from their own perspective, and those responses become part of the life of the work. These changes that happen across time and space are difficult to fully define through text or language. They belong more to the realm of perception. 

Personally, I have always been excited by visual situations that I can sense but cannot fully explain. Those moments often become the starting point for my work.

What has your participation in Time Lag meant to you personally or professionally?

Participating in Time Lag allowed the work to enter a new context and encounter a completely different audience.

This exhibition provided an opportunity for me to observe how some of my more recent works function once they leave the studio. Installed in a different space and arranged in a new way, the work begins to encounter viewers and develop its own presence. It becomes interesting to see how it operates within that new situation.

What do you hope people take away from your art when they experience it?

I do not expect viewers to arrive at a clear explanation. If someone slows down, looks longer than expected, or feels slightly uncertain about what they are seeing, then the work has already begun to function. I am interested in creating small moments where perception shifts and where the familiar feels slightly unfamiliar for a short time.

Text and photo courtesy of Shuai Xu

Website: https://www.shuai-xu.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shuaixu_studio/