In Existential, Being, Chinese American artist Liu Shuishi looks to ancient Greek gods and goddesses to face the world following a profound, life-altering event. Rather than focusing on the drama of an “existential crisis,” Existential, Being considers existence as a sustained condition, depicting moments of revelation, suffering, sacrifice, or transcendence. 

The exhibition takes viewers on a journey through Liu’s self-reflection, with the deities representing the different emotions, memories, and inner states that shape the development of oneself over time. Each work is like a different room from the same story, from different moments in time, as he is becoming more and more himself. Together, they ask enduring questions: Who am I becoming? Who do I want to be to myself, and what parts of my existence must I revisit to get there? 

Many of the works take their titles from Greek mythology. Celebrated in epic poetry for their heroic feats, supernatural power, and deeply human flaws, these characters offered a way for the Greeks to make sense of the world and to understand human nature. 

In Dionysus (the god of wine), a monstrous figure painted in greens and yellows bears large white teeth in place of a mouth. The white brushstrokes cutting across the composition function as a metaphor for language, reflecting Shuishi’s belief that wine loosens truth and enables dialogue. In Achilles (the great Greek warrior), a fiery red profile confronts the viewer with raw intensity. Small, multicolored stripes in the upper right corner serve as the artist’s visual shorthand for the fundamental tensions that define existence: violence and peace, rage and desire, creation and destruction.

Using light, art, and installation, Shuishi cultivates a stillness in the gallery, creating the conditions that foster a sense of inward connection. The lights are dim, the space is quiet, and there is the smell of richly layered oil paint. This sensory shift prepares the mind for reflection and contemplation. On the central wall, a monumental painting presents a silhouette rendered in white and shades of red, set against a dark black-blue background. The silhouette hints at the presence of a figure emerging from vastness. Its vertical scale and upward movement encourage humility and awe, reminding viewers of their smallness in relation to something immeasurable.

Below the monumental figure is an installation titled Art of the Covenant, drawing inspiration from the biblical Ark of the Covenant, a sacred container believed to hold divine presence. Shuishi reimagines art itself as a vessel, one capable of bridging revelation and creation, the metaphysical and the human. The installation takes the form of a hand-painted “flower cabinet,” its ornate exterior concealing mirrors and a deep central void. When viewed from above, the viewer’s reflection appears, shifting the work into an encounter with oneself. The void symbolizes absence and longing, the insatiable desire that propels both artistic creation and human existence. The work was conceptualized in 2017, whereby Liu used a material form to confine the elusive, formless existence of “art.” The question of what exactly “art” is has dominated Liu's practice for over 10 years.