Black Rabbits, White Rabbits

I had intended to publish this post to coincide with the new month. As a child we used to say, 'black rabbits'on the night before the first of the month and 'white rabbits' to greet the new month when we awoke next morning. That was the plan anyway. This ritual came to mind when I first visited The White Rabbit Gallery in Chippendale, a suburb of inner Sydney (Australia). I was bowled over on my first visit
and have been each of the three visits since. It's a fantastic, fascinating and exhilarating private gallery that specialises in exhibiting contemporary Chinese art from the collection of Judith Neilson.

As a start I'd like to mention two particular artists who made a big impression on my first visit. Now the gallery is a renovated inner city warehouse and on the first floor I noticed a doorway in one corner--at first I thought it was part of the original building, as I got closer, however, I realised it was one of the art works on show. Level 1/2, Unit 8, Building 5, Hua Jiadi, North Village (2010) by Gao Rong has recreated an actual place into padded cloth and stitch. The down pipes, the door, the rust marks, the fuse box, the scuff marks are all made from embroidered cloth.

The second work is Fabrication No. 3 (2009) by Wang Lei is a pair of imperial robes from China's last dynasty. These robes would have been made from silk and richly embroidered, Wang Lei, however, has knitted them from paper string made form a Chinese-English dictionary, and text can be glimpsed (but not read) in the twisted yarn. I searched for an image to include in this post but couldn't find one on the internet.  On my next visit I will ask if any are available.

The next exhibition at The White Rabbit opens on March 8.