Renee So: Commodities: Sculpture and Ceramics

20 Sep 2025-8 Mar 2026

Overview

Hong Kong-born artist Renee So creates darkly playful ceramic sculptures which consider how we understand Chinese culture and history today, from snuff and perfume to silk and even the ancient Chinese version of football – cuju.

Oversized snuff bottles shaped like a poppy or a giant nose link to sculptures of contemporary perfumes that reference imperial histories such as ‘Invasion’, ‘Colony’ and ‘Opium’. A magic bronze mirror, based on those made thousands of years ago, projects a glowing ghostly image onto a darkened wall. Ritual vessels explore how the Taotie, a mythological Chinese creature, is connected to the early history of silk weaving, pioneered by women. So’s works help us see Compton Verney’s world-renowned collection of Chinese Bronzes in a new light.

Through a mix of new and never before seen works, So explores how perceptions of history can be distorted, re-fashioned and changed, questioning how we create the new stories we tell ourselves today.