Full Rabbit

Full Rabbit is a group exhibition featuring the works of British and Chinese artists, examining the notion of fortune and self-perception. The exhibition will open in London from 24th February 2012 in the vast basement vaults of Shoreditch Town Hall.

Full Rabbit will showcase 12 British and eight Chinese artists and the exhibition will include a diverse, multi-disciplinary collection of solo and collaborative work, previously unseen in the UK.

The artists featuring in the show include Catherine Shakespeare Lane, the British artist who, by request, famously photographed Francis Bacon's dead body in a Spanish mortuary. Shakespeare Lane will exhibit unseen work including, Piss Artist for D.H, an installation of champagne bottle caps originally made for friend Damien Hirst, alongside Cheap Version for D.H, featuring beer bottle tops. On Top of Eduardo, features small rabbit casing given to her by Eduardo Paolozzi. This Game Not Those illustrating the story of the Chinese people that were imprisoned for protesting against their homes being demolished to make way for the 2008 Olympic grounds.

Much-talked about British painter Chris Moon ('A new art superstar” Harper's Bazaar, Sept 2011), whose successful debut solo exhibition took place in London in 2011, will unveil his Love Heart series, eight installations using nostalgic Love Heart confectionary at various stages of disintegration to tell the story of past relationships, from First Love, to Crush to One Night Stand and Fantasy Girl.

Full Rabbit is the culmination of a project that aims to explore perceptions of fortune by artists in both the UK and China. The show was exhibited at Beijing's Platform China Contemporary Arts Institute under the title Half Rabbit in 2011, the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.  Many of the Chinese artists have never shown their work outside their country.Collaborative works between UK and Chinese artists include Local Whispers (previously shown at the V&A in February 2011), a rice on paper calligraphy and sound installation by Experimenteur En Couleur, Ruan Qianrui, Christian Krupa and Yan Jun, plus Rabbit Sequence by Experimenter En Couleur and Ruan Qianrui, which sees 20 people, ranging from 4-80 years of age and eight born during the Year of the Rabbit, asked to talk about their fortune.

Full Rabbit artists are:  Catherine Shakespeare Lane, Chris Moon, Experimenter En Couleur, Tim Norris, Paul Davis, Neil Webb and Ron Wright, Maria Castro, Felicity Ford, Leslie Deere, Alex McLean, Christian Krupa, Yan Jan, Sui Jianguo, Ding Xin, Gogo J, Seaming To, Ruan Qianrui and EunJoo Shin.

Curator Alexis Bamforth of Audio Architecture comments, 'The reaction to the Half Rabbit exhibition in Beijing in 2011 was extremely positive, although many of the Chinese artists were very nervous about their works being part of the show. We look forward to unveiling the London group show and we're particularly proud of some of the collaborative work produced by British and Chinese artists. At a time when the story of Ai Wei Wei has heightened international awareness of the plight of Chinese artists and the bureaucracy they live with and pressure they face, we are extremely excited to showcase some of the most interesting emerging talent in China, on an international stage.” [Lex, feel free to insert your own quote if you prefer]

The exhibition opens to the public 24th February to 18th March 2012 and entrance is free.

Further Information:
Nadia Hamed 
Lisa Baker Associates Ltd.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: + 44 (0) 7903 558 035