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Published coverage

 

  • Wallpaper, online, Daven Wu – Standalone preview article, Link

  • Il Giornale dell'Arte, online, Editors – Inclusion in roundup of official collateral events at the biennale, Link  

  • Il Giornale dell'Arte, online, Editors – Inclusion in roundup of official collateral events at the biennale, Link     

  • Culturalee, online, Lee Sharrock – Exhibition preview, Link

  • Our Culture, online, Gerda Kirvaite – Standalone article covering the residency announcement, Link

  • Flo London, online, Editors – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link    

  • Venezia Da Vivere, online, Editors – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link  

  • The Photophore, online, Editors – Inclusion in article roundup of collateral exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • Observer (US), online, Elisa Carollo – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • Cabana Magazine (Substack), online, Editors – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • Die Presse, online, Magdalena Mayer – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • Il Giornale Dell'Arte, online, Nicoletta Biglietti – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • ArtTouch, online, Editors – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • ARTE IT,  online, Editors – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • Corriere della Sera, Viaggi, online, Carmen Rolle – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • CNN Brazil, online, Daniela Filomeno – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the Biennale, Link

  • Elle Decor Italy, online, Antonio di Mino – Inclusion in article roundup of exhibitions to see during the biennale, Link

  • Judith Benhamou Reports, online, Interview with Jun – Link and feature in Venice article roundup, Link

  • The Art Newspaper, online, Georgina Adam – Standalone article previewing the exhibition, also features the foundation's launch and residency, Link

  • Galerie Magazine, online, Ann Binlot - Standalone article on the exhibition, Link

  • Purple Magazine, online, editors - Inclusion in Venice diary story, Link

  • FAD, online, Tabish Khan - Inclusion in article roundup of what to see in Venice during the Biennale, Link

  • Vogue India, online, Rajiv Menon - Inclusion in article roundup of South Asian art not to miss at the Biennale, Link

  • Forbes, online, Erica Firpo - Inclusion in article roundup of Venice Biennale highlights, Link

  • ​Artsy, Casey Lesser - What to See in 48 Hours at the Venice Biennale 2026, Link

  • Observer, Arts•Art Reviews, Elisa Carollo –Su Xiaobai’s Meditative Material Practice Is the Focus of One of the Biennale’s Most Commanding Shows - Installed in a 15th-century palazzo, the Chinese master's natural lacquer surfaces feel less painted than shaped by geological time. 06/04/26, Link

  • Juliet Art Magazine, Carolina Colciago - L’Universo Alchemico di Su Xiaobai a Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel. 06/08/26, Link

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Key quotes from press:

Judith Benhamou video: Link

  • Jun on the Niao Niao series: "To create a black painting is difficult, it's a challenge for every artist. He wanted to challenge himself. The meaning of Niao Niao in Chinese is fading away, it's there but you cannot catch it, it's a feeling."

  • Judith Benhamou: "There's always a memory of something else appearing in Su's paintings. It made me think of the shadow works of Andy Warhol."

  • JB: "In the show there is also this idea of transparency and liquid."

  • Jun: "Yes, everything you see appears as if floating. Su Xiaobai didn't want to disturb anything from this marvellous historical palazzo, he feels like a passing guest in this historical building."

  • JB: "The result is perfect."

 

Wallpaper article: Link

  • "The show is both a retrospective and a provocation. Its centrepiece Niao Niao, Su's newest series, is named for a poetic Chinese phrase evoking evanescence and transience." Daven Wu

  • "Su says there is a moment when a painting ceases to be solely his to determine. Even with the twenty layers of lacquer – scored, abraded, each in dialogue with the one beneath – the final image is never pre-designed." Daven Wu

  • "Rather than suppress that quality, Yantrasast has folded the palazzo's centuries of character into the exhibition design itself to reveal an unexpected resonance between building and artist. The palazzo's strata of history, he suggests, move in parallel with Su's layered surfaces.The resulting spatial decisions are quietly ingenious." Daven Wu

  • "A special piece, Three Hundred Poems – composed of 300 antique ceramic roof tiles referencing an ancient Chinese poetry anthology – crosses millennia and continents to land in Cannaregio." Daven Wu

Galerie article: Link

  • “Before I came the buildings, all these historical spirits, they were sleeping. Now, with my work, they are awakened. Now they are talking to each other.” Su Xiaobai

  • "In 'Alchemical Universe,' Xiaobai achieves exactly what Kouoh intended with 'In Minor Keys': a moment of contemplation, an opportunity to slow down, and a quiet place to think and observe in the middle of a chaotic period." Ann Binlot

  • "The process is slow by necessity. Xiaobai works on multiple paintings simultaneously between his studios in Düsseldorf and Shanghai, building up as many as 20 layers, each one dried before the next is applied. There is no shortcut" Ann Binlot

The Art Newspaper article: Link

  • "Lacquer paintings by the Chinese-German artist, whose foundation launches a curatorial residency in Shanghai this year, go on display at a collateral biennale event in a 15th century palazzo." Georgina Adam

  • "One room is devoted to a forest of suspended squares, temple tiles lacquered in deep maroon; another displays works on the floor, apparently floating above a “sea” made of mirrored Murano glass." Georgina Adam

  • Su Xiaobai was advised in 2003 by Gerhard Richter to abandon oils and concentrate on his explorations of lacquer [...] Su took that advice, and now only works in lacquer, sometimes using immense quantities of the tree sap to produce contemplative works that form a bridge between Chinese artistic traditions and European abstraction." Georgina Adam​

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