Shifting Facets「表裏之間」 - Yao Bangliang: Experimental Lacquer Art Exhibition 10-31.10.2026

Curated and presented by

The Gallery by SOIL

For centuries, Chinese lacquer has been understood through vessels, craft and ornament. Today, it is moving beyond the rigid categories of lacquerware and lacquer painting, and beyond skill as the sole measure of value. Lacquer is becoming a living material within contemporary art.

千年以來，大漆常被放在器物、工藝與裝飾的脈絡中理解。今天，它正逐漸走出漆器與漆畫的僵固分類，也不再只以技藝作為唯一標準，而成為當代藝術中一種具有生命力的材料。

Reside at a Split (2026)

Natural lacquer, ash, gold leaf, natural fabric

H32 x W32 cm

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YAO Bangliang

姚邦亮

Born in Chenzhou, Hunan Province, China, in 1985, Yao Bangliang earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Design from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied from 2007 to 2015. In 2023, he was selected as a winner of the 3rd “Hand of Wisdom” Sino-French Craft Exchange Programme, which included a study visit and exchange in Paris. Yao currently lives and works in Guangzhou.

His works have been exhibited at Art Central in Hong Kong, Collect Art Fair in London, and in Korea, France, Germany, Spain, and other countries. His works are also held in the collections of institutions including the Fujian Provincial Museum of Fine Arts and the Shanghai Lacquer Art Museum.

Yao sees his practice as both an exploration of lacquer as a material and an innovative form of storytelling. Through his work, he seeks to create a non-verbal language that resonates emotionally with viewers. His practice reflects a deep investigation into the properties of materials and their significance in contemporary art, while reinterpreting and modernizing traditional lacquer techniques.

姚邦亮1985年出生於中國湖南郴州，2007年至2015年就讀於廣州美術學院，獲美術學學士及設計學碩士學位。2023年他入選第三屆「智慧之手」中法工藝交流項目，並獲邀前往巴黎訪學交流。姚邦亮現工作、生活於廣州。

他的作品曾於香港 Art Central、倫敦 Collect 藝術博覽會，以及韓國、法國、德國、西班牙等地展出，更被福建省美術館、上海漆藝博物館等機構收藏。

姚邦亮的創作以漆為核心，從材料本身出發，探索其質感、層次與表現可能，並將之轉化為富有敘事性的藝術語言。他希望透過作品建立一種超越文字的溝通方式，使觀者在凝視與感受之間產生情感共鳴。其創作實踐不僅延續了傳統漆藝的精神，也在當代語境中不斷拓展其形式與內涵，賦予這一古老媒材新的生命力。

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Meet the Artist

藝術家在廊

YAO Bangliang will be with us in Hong Kong. Join us to meet him on Saturday, 10.10.2026, 3pm - 5pm

將到香港與我們在 2025 年 10 月 10 日星期六下午3-5時跟大家聚聚， 

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Artist Statement 

藝術家的話

Shifting Facets explores the space between surface and interior, visibility and concealment, tradition and the present. Lacquer is a material shaped by boundaries, yet it continually moves beyond them. It flows, adheres, builds up in layers and slowly hardens through time. It absorbs and resists, hides and reveals. When lacquer meets linen, ash, metal, found objects and spatial structures, the lines between painting, sculpture, installation and craft begin to soften.

This softness is not uncertainty, but part of the material’s nature. Lacquer has its own time, depth, lustre and texture. Many results cannot be fully controlled in advance; the material takes part in the making of the work. In my practice, lacquer is not used simply as decoration, nor as a fixed symbol of the East. I return to its material presence: its time, density, strength and resistance.

The works move between surface and space, between inherited craft knowledge and contemporary thought. For me, tradition is not a style to repeat, but a way of listening to and working with material. Contemporary practice allows these boundaries to be questioned again.

Where boundaries dissolve, new ways of seeing can begin.

「表裏之間 」 關注表與裏、顯與隱、傳統與當下之間的關係。大漆看似依附於邊界，卻總在生成中越過邊界。它流動、附著、層層累積，並在時間中慢慢固化；它吸收，也抵抗；遮蔽，也顯現。當漆與麻布、瓦灰、金屬、現成物和空間結構相遇，繪畫、雕塑、裝置與工藝之間的分界便開始變得柔軟。

這種柔軟不是不確定，而是材料自身的狀態。大漆有它自己的時間、厚度、光澤與肌理；許多結果無法被完全預設，材料也參與了作品的生成。我的創作並不把大漆只作為裝飾技法，也不將它固定為某種東方符號，而是回到它的物質存在：時間、密度、力量與抵抗。

作品在表面與空間之間展開，也在傳統髹漆經驗與當代思考之間展開。對我而言，傳統不是需要重複的樣式，而是一種傾聽材料、與材料共處的方式；當代創作則讓這些邊界被重新提問。

當邊界消融，新的觀看方式由此開始。

Ground-breaking (2026)

Natural lacquer, ash, gold leaf, natural fabric

H33 x W26cm

Timing (2026)

Natural lacquer, ash, cotton cloth, natural fabric

H27 x W48 cm

Reflection 02 Realm (2026)

Natural lacquer, ash, gold leaf, natural fabric

H32 x W20 cm

Scenery 03 (2022)

Natural lacquer, ash, natural fabric

H32 x W40 cm 

Instant Constant 01 (2026)

Natural lacquer, ash, silver foil 

25X37.5 cm 

If you are interested in any of these lacquerware, please email to team@craftbysoil.com or WhatsApp 95593908. 

若您對任何作品感興趣，請電郵至 team@craftbysoil.com 或 WhatsApp 95593908 查詢，我們樂意為您服務。

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The Gallery by SOIL is dedicated to presenting the art of lacquer from Asia. It is probably the first gallery in Hong Kong which brings together lacquer masters and artists of diverse cultures, blending the traditional with the contemporary to showcase variety in the discipline.

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