While the earlier work of Cao Fei is inextricably linked to her homeland of China, Singapore has come to play an important role in her recent output, particularly in Isle of Instability, 2020, a meditation on the meaning of home, produced during ten months of lockdown in the city state with her children and husband, the Singaporean conceptual artist Lim Tzay Chuen. It was Lim who introduced Cao to Singapore laksa: ‘He took me to eat laksa for the first time and I fell in love,’ she recalls. ‘It’s sweet, salty, spicy, fishy and fresh. It looks like a stunning, flowing Jackson Pollock work, white and red pigments hedging against each other.’ caofei.com, spruethmagers.com.
For Cao’s recipe, see Wallpaper.com…
