Strange Wonders exhibition signage

The Graphical Tree worked with one of our regular art institutions, London’s SOAS Gallery, for the signage of their truly brilliant show, Strange Wonders – Jizi and Pioneers of Contemporary Ink of China.

Part of the exhibition featured a wide and hugely impressive range of works from Chinese artist Jizi – his first ever solo show in the UK, which represented a posthumously significant moment for the artist.

Alongside the enigmatic work of Jiji, the ground floor gallery displayed a variety of works from the Marie-Louise van Liebergen Collection, including works by some leading figures such as Xu Bing, Gu Wenda, and Wei Ligang, alongside artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the UK.

As the SOAS website exhibition write-up says, “…there has been an explosion of ink painting in the past 20 years as a medium in the Chinese cultural world, practiced in East Asia for centuries and developed as a highly sophisticated art form for almost two millennia. A diverse and eclectic range of creative production encompasses all forms of contemporary ink work: calligraphy, painting, figurative, conceptual and abstract.”

So it was a real pleasure to work on another amazing show at the SOAS gallery, and help to collate and produce a host of supporting signage.

Our work came in the form of cut decal lettering and printed descriptions for the pieces of work on display. Many of the text decals were written in English and Chinese. This meant that extra diligence and care were required from our production team to make sure the unfamiliar Chinese text was created correctly.

The inner sanctum of the lower flower housed a smaller reproduction of the astonishing Jizi piece Spirit Flowing in the Vast Universe. The original is 40m in length. The work was complemented by the installation of bold coloured self-adhesive vinyl panels and supporting printed black text. The start of the scroll is shown in the photo above.

At the bottom of this case study, you can find a really interesting video produced by SOAS about the exhibition, featuring the full reproduction of Spirit Flowing in the Vast Universe with narration and insights by the show’s curator Katie Hill. The video also includes, we think, our signage work shown off in all its artistic glory.