Aesop and the White Rabbit

I've been a long time fan of both Aesop and the White Rabbit Gallery so when I received an invitation to their first ever collaboration I was only too excited to RSVP.

The event was a beautifully paced evening which started with drinks in their teahouse before a guided tour of their latest exhibition Beyond the Frame which, typical of the White Rabbit, was intelligently curated and a refreshing cross-section of truly contemporary Chinese art (the gallery focusses solely on works produced after 2000).  I thoroughly recommend a visit - take a lift to the top floor, work your way down and then round up your visit in their teahouse.

I will never get tired of the birdcages that hang in their teahouse.

We were welcomed by a gorgeous spread of moreish little foods (I especially loved them serving ripe grape tomatoes as part of the mix).

Dong Yuan's paintings of views from her Beijing apartment building were a highlight - a segment of the work was featured in the invite but the real power of the piece was in seeing the 42 separate paintings together.

If you take a visit, do make sure you pause by this artwork - it's worth the stop.

I'm such a sucker for any piece thick with shiny paint that I just want to touch.  This painting by Xie Molin was made with hand-maneuvered machine plotter, I love the idea that it was a mutual effort of man and machine.

To top it all off we got a beautiful little bag of Aesop goodies as we left the gallery (we couldn't help ourselves and opened ours up as soon as we were around the corner).

A wonderful evening had from two of my favourite companies.