Ground Floor Preview

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Stop 1: Report

Qin Fengling, Painted stainless steel sculpture, 68 x 38 x 26 cmReport is a tri-dimensional re-elaboration of artist's previous painting displaying an endearing figure which reveals aesthetic elements of a bygone historical time. Her artistic practice consists in a subjective re- interpretation of the elements and topics of contemporary society and daily life through self-referentiality, order and organisation.

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Stop 2: Guai Guai N 26

Ye Hong Xing, White marble sculpture, 46 x 43 x 26 cm, 2009Ye Hongxing has become one of the most exciting rising stars of the Chinese contemporary art scene. He works and lives in Beijing. His artworks have been extensively exhibited in China and abroad, including at the Art Cologne. His works include paintings, sculptures, print wood block and installation.

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Stop 3: Watercolor Impression

Li Jiwei, Oil on canvas, 120 x 150 cm, 2013The artist adopts a simple expressive technique to represent the relationship between the intangible realm of the nothingness and the real material world. With simple and elegant colour combination, he creates a flexible pictorial space, an almost dream-like dimension. This silent language filled with poetry and lyricism brings viewers into a symbolic dimension, a sort of watercolor impression.

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Stop 4: Luxuriant Violence

Yang Tao, Bronze sculpture, 150 x 23 x 36 cm and 40 x 30 x 47 cm, 2007 - 2008The work is a re-interpretation of traditional warrior iconography from the Ming Dynasty period. This re-interpretation is influenced by virtual fighting games, whereby the artist experiments with representation of traditional ritualised aesthetic. All the semantic and visual elements that emerge are associated with symbols of global art, culture and consumerism typical of contemporary society.

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Stop 5: The Never Ending Painting

Tan Khoon Yong, Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2014The 'unfinished' paintings were created with the intention of continuing the recurring story of Le Beauvallon as a place of art. As Le Beauvallon welcomes the guests and they take with them memories of it, they can also leave their mark in Le Beauvallon by choosing to leave a finger mark on one of the canvases. In this way The Never Ending Painting is changed everytime a guest leaves, until the new one arrives.

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Stop 6: Interior Light Installation

Balmond Studio, Acrylic installation, 1700 x 1150 cm, 2013The light, created as a permanent installation for the property, channels the exotic locations and stylish settings from the heyday of the James Bond movies. Composed of infinite packing tiles with dichroic film, its naturally triangulated configuration gives the piece a crystalline appearance and stunning jewel-like colours that are forever changing with the light.

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Stop 7: Untitled (Black Series)

Arman, Indian ink on paper, 160 x 121 cm, 1999Arman is best known for his critique of consumerism, waste, and mass production. In this painting, the paint tubes and brushes were used to apply pigment, and then pasted directly onto the canvas. His works are in the collections of some of the most prestigious museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

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Stop 8: Frozen Memory

Kwon Kyungyup (Korean), Oil on canvas, 130.3 x 89.4 cm, 2011Kwon Kyungyup’s figurative paintings reveal an unassailable world of sensuality, duality and emotional imprisonment. She approaches her figurative paintings in a way in which her subjects are depicted almost as inhuman and immaculate beings, as if the body is merely a storage for deep memories of pain, loss, and trauma.

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Stop 9: Untitled (Truck Tyre)

Wim Delvoye, Rubber, 148 x 60 cm, 2013The tension between the ordinariness of the material and its extraordinarily skilled construction is characteristic of Delvoye’s work. The intricacy of the hand-carved designs plays-off the mass-produced origin of the object.There is a tension of the sacred and banal, icon and brand. These extraordinary objects let us imagine for a moment there could be something more lurking within the absolutely banal.

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Stop 10: The Powermen

Ren Lei, Stainless steel sculptures, Various dimensions, 2014The quest of mankind is in many ways, a journey to accomplishment - aiming to achieve and accomplish calls for steady, patient labour for years on end. It requires absolute commitment to a goal, no matter what needs to be sacrificed. The quest requires both mental and physical strengthst. One without the other does not take us on this journey to real achievement.

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Stop 11: Tuareg

Jean-Paul Gourdon, Terracotta sculptures, Various dimensions, 1999-2011French sculptor Jean Paul Gourdon is a master of pottery techniques and styles.Featured here are 3 camels and a Tuareg. The Tuareg homeland today is in the Central Sahara, where they have lived for several thousand years since their ancestors began migrating from the northern Sahara following colonisation of coastal North Africa by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs.They are known as the Blue Men, for their indigo-dyed garments which leave dark blue pigment on their skins, and as the Knights of the Sahara for their generosity, desert hospitality and respect for women.

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Stop 12: Untitled

Chan Liu-Miao, Leather sculptures, Various dimensions, 1980sIn creating his highly detailed work, the artist seeks to express the subtleties of Chi, the power that fuels the body. ‘I feel human expressions transcend cultures, so I create expressions of emotions.’ The artworks, are produced in the ancient technique of leather sculpture, symbolise the beauty of Oriental philosophy. Chan Liu-Miao was declared a national treasure of Taiwan in 1986.

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Stop 13: Untitled

Untitled, Photography, Various dimensions, 1958The soldiers are photographed in Beijing with the 1st Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong. At a time when any kind of photography was a rarity in China, the pictures taken by the government photographers were used to show cultural revolution. Decades after his death, Mao's presence is still felt and seen all over China.

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Stop 14: Biao Xiang

Yang Tao, Ceramic sculpture, 110 x 65 x 40 cm, 2006The physical form and style of the works by Yang Tao has shaken off the restrained pursuit for ideologies and overused entities of the traditional context. He has carried through a shift of creativity, which reflects crucial significance of the interpretive direction of Chinese contemporary art scene - finding the catalyst to activate a brand new conversation between the tradition of Chinese art (and culture) and the turbulent stage of globalisation.

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Stop 15: Song of Night

Cong Yungfen, Painting on tempera, 180 x 110 cm, 2013The inspiration of this series of works comes from Nitsch’s Thus Spoke Zarathrustra and the poem with the same title of Levis Strauss. All the symbols and the elements in the artwork have a strong metaphorical connection with the artist himself. The sequences of these elements are arranged to create a mental picture of the human dimension.In Nocturnal Song, the mysterious starry sky in the background brings the whole work into a utopian dimension, conveying a sense of tranquillity and solitude. All the elements in the painting are full of mystery: aurora, nebula, rocks, marine ecosystem, airplanes create a sense of spiritual balance in the pictorial representation bringing the viewers to a sort of elevation.

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Stop 16: Bad Tempered Chair

Ron Arad, Temper-rolled stainless steel, 84 x 102 x 76 cm, 2003Ron Arad is one of the liveliest and most productive figures in contemporary design. He contrasts polished, stylish commercial design with highly poetic objects with an archaic feel to them. The design dates back to the Well Tempered Chair of 1985, the beginning of Arad's work with Vitra.

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Stop 17: Dripping - You and Me

Zheng Lu, Staineless steel installation, 650 x 600 x 500 cm, 2014Paul Géraldy is a celebrated French poet and playwright. In the 1920's, he took up residence on Le Beauvallon’s fourth floor to write some of his great works. Today, his legacy lives on in Salon Sud, where you’ll find his most famous poem of all, Toi et Moi, engraved into a specially commissioned work of art. The artist, Zheng Lu, used the beautiful lines from the poem, shown in the form of calligraphy and shaped into elegant outlines of water, to echo the relationship between this historical building and the art.

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Stop 18: Conceptual Seating

Li Jiwei, Acrylic glass, 150 x 100 x 114 cm, 2005Artists Li Jiwei's designs are an example of the Chinese adaptation of international design trends. Conceptually those chairs express the ephemeral, the quasi unfinished that is still in a state of becoming. These designs protest against the too-smooth perfectionism of custormary industrial products.

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Stop 19: Series of Paintings

Tan Khoon Yong, Acrylic on canvas, 182 x 70 cm, 2014Tan Khoon Yong distinctive style is based on the combination of the rational scientific approach of the geomancy with the emotional approach of art. Behind the abstract lines we can grasp hints of the logical system of thought of the geomancy.

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Stop 20: Zodiac

Zou Liang, Cast bronze sculptures, Various dimensions, 2014The point of this series of artworks, representing the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, is not to provide a realistic representation of each animal, but to focus on a visualisation of the characteristics of each sign. This allows the viewer to relate to the works and to interact with them in a more thought provoking way.

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Stop 21: Summer Dream

Abderrazak Sahli, Cut on canvas, 200 x 180 cm, 2005The work evokes Arabic Mashrabiya screens and Carthaginian mosaics. The artist binds an international artistic form with his own local, archetypal culture. 'My painting is principally based on a multitude of objects and forms; it translates diversity. The clutter of objects is nothing but a representation of the dense crowd that is force and movement.' Sahli is one of the best artists from North Africa.

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Stop 22: Up Chair and Stool

Gaetano Pesce, Polyurethane, 120 x 130 x103 cm, 2000Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce, began experimenting in 1968 at his Paris atelier with vacuum-packing, the hippest material of the moment: polyurethane. Soon he’d developed a gravity-defying model: a 4 inch thick disc that, when removed from its PVC envelope, would rise from the floor into a cushy armchair. Fittingly, he named it Up. The expressive silhouette is moulded into an effervescent shape that invites you to relax along with its attached 'ball and chain' footstool, inspired by goddesses of fertility.

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Stop 23: Shangri-La Chair

Simon Ma and X Craezioni, 120 x 65 x 75 cmDesigned in China, Made in Italy was the main aspect behind the concept of Shangri-La chair. Simon Ma was the first Chinese artist, whose artwork was auctioned at Vienna Dorotheum – the oldest auction house in Europe. In fact, one of his Shangri-La art chairs was exactly the lot.

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Stop 24: Ephemera

Zheng Lu, Ink and canvas sculpture, 70 x 40 x 230 cm, 2014The choice of the mayfly is aimed to suggest the transience of life. The contrast between the visual image of the mayfly and the feeling of caducity of human life create a dialogue with each other and display a metaphor of human existence.

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Stop 25: Chair_One Installation

Konstantin Grcic, Aluminium, Various dimensions, 2004Chair_ONE is constructed just like a football: a number of flat planes assembled at angles to each other, creating the three-dimensional form. Award winning industrial designer, Konstantin Grcic, said that the more he and his team worked on the models the more they learnt to understand the structural logic behind what they were doing. What began as a simple sketch, a series of cardboard models, prototypes, is now a real chair

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Stop 26: Spreading Golden Fractal

Caterina Tiazzoldi, Laquer wood, Various dimensions, 2014Parametric Bookshelves, by the award winning architect Tiazzoldi, use a Maya script to achieve a formal exploration of new configurations. The application of a large number of iterations to a limited number of rules leads to a level of formal complexity and sophistication which is impossible to obtain from traditional processes.

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Stop 27: Fray Foam Home

Andrés Jacques, Mixed medim installation, 500 x 50 x 300 cm, 2010Fray Foam Home was created for Venice Biennale 2010. It is the restitution of the fragmented spaces in which a specific home, with its comforts and supplies, is constructed. Homes are no longer a political spaces for familiarity, but distant bubble made foams joined by conflict and fray.

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Stop 28: Alu Series N 4

Xia Hang, Stainless steel sculptures, Various dimensions, 2014In Xia Hang’s art, play is the essence and disassembly the feature. By stressing the interaction between the work and its audience, he creates a game between the viewer and object. The works can be disassembled and reassembled to create different patterns and shapes.

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Stop 29: Untitled (Black Series)

Arman, Indian ink on paper, 120 x 150 cm, 1999Arman is best known for his critique of consumerism, waste, and mass production. In this painting, the paint tubes and brushes were used to apply pigment, and then pasted directly onto the canvas. His works are in the collections of some of the most prestigious museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

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Stop 30: Give and Take

Lorenzo Quinn, White bronze on granite base, 64 x 58 x 13 cm, 2013It is vital to find a balance in life. Nature has been trying to teach us that lesson since the beginning of time. All opposites meet in their extremes. You cannot fully enjoy receiving if you have never given, because you will not recognise the gift you have received if you value only what is difficult to obtain.

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Stop 31: Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Drum

2008Two of the drums used during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

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Stop 32: Series of Painting

Tan Khoon Yong, Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2016Tan Khoon Yong distinctive style is based on the combination of the rational scientific approach of the geomancy with the emotional approach of art. Behind the abstract lines we can grasp hints of the logical system of thought of the geomancy.

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Stop 33: Big Apple

Romero Britto, Metal sculpture, 200 x 143 x 70 cm, 2000Through his vibrant colours, playful themes and hard-edged compositions, Romero Britto’s art captures the attention of both youthful spirits and educated art collectors. It is this unique talent which has established Britto’s reputation and granted him a significant presence in the US, Europe, and Asia.'Since everything in life moves towards one final end, we should fill our life with color and hope'. Such is the ideal of one truly dedicated individual, Romero Britto, an artist true to himself.

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Stop 34: Untitled

Natalia Curdova - Kurda, Acrylic on canvas, 140 x 85 cm, 2015Natalia Curdova, artist name Kurda, expresses her feelings in an incredible lightness and positive colour. With splatter and stroke she enchants the art connoisseur with her magic of expressivity