Cradled in the corner of an open yellow steel frame, a cascade of ceramic open vessels descends, spine-like to the ground. Each individual surface-dimpled piece, rich in texture, and glazed white with rust-coloured highlights, is pierced by angled metal protrusions that allow space to be created between the assembled units. There is a dialogue evident between the body and architecture in these negative spaces, inspired by Mao’s interest in the exposed metalwork and wires on buildings, and how architecture potentially may restrain us as physical humans. He invites the viewer to fill in the blanks.

Mao works thoughtfully and intuitively embracing the agency or voice of materials to suggest creative potential but combines this with curiosity, until his intervention informed by a background in architecture, construction and metal fabrication shapes and transforms the final works.

The painted steel frame stands just higher than the human body. Within there are nine unique ceramic vessels suspended and curving gently to just above the floor.

Yeni Mao (b. 1971 Guelph, Canada) lives and works in Mexico City. He graduated

BFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA (1993) and 995Artworks Foundry, Berkeley, USA (1995). His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, at venues including Ise Cultural Foundation and Chashama, both in New York; ROM Gallery for Art & Architecture in Oslo; and Shang Element Contemporary Art Museum in Beijing.Solo shows include: Campeche, ‘Yerba Mala’, Mexico City, MX; Co-Lab Projects, ‘will you meet me by the river’s edge’, Austin, USA; Fierman, ‘I desire the strength of nine tigers’, New York, USA; PAOS GDL, ‘vol. 2: cabal, with Gamma Galería’, Guadalajara, MX; guadalajara90210, ‘vol. 1: cowboys’, Guadalajara, MX; Casa Lu, ‘Ripple and Shear’, Mexico City, MX; Second Street Gallery, ‘The Conqueror’, Charlottesville, USA; Munch Gallery, ‘Regatta’, New York USA; Zidoun-Bossuyt, ‘Whiskey Papa’, Luxembourg, LU; Flash Atöyle, ‘1725 Sokak No.43’, Izmir, TR; Collette Blanchard Gallery, ‘Dead Reckoning’, New York, USA.