A meditation on how we construct a sense of where we come from by Chinese artist Tang Shuo. Shuo received his Bachelor’s degree in mural painting at Guangxi Arts University and studied experimental art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Known for his distinctive form of magical realism, Shuo’s paintings draw from the archives of his native village of Dashishan, where he maintains a studio in the forest. In his first solo exhibition in New York, Shuo reimagines the lives of his ancestors, creating paintings in which nature, humans, and animals exist in close proximity. The collection sees Shuo looking backward, following the journeys of people across generations. Monumental figures emerge from timeless landscapes, while trees and animals become characters in their own right. The result is a feeling both ancient and contemporary, rooted as it is in the lived experience of an artist looking to the past to better understand himself.

“Borrowed History” opens tonight at Plato gallery in New York and runs until November 7th.