In the series “Move,” Liao Fei explores materials’ physical properties, along with the casual relationships they can set off. The artist takes mundane, readily available materials and arranges them into balanced, yet inherently temporary, assemblages. In this piece, two chairs are stacked on top of each other, the upper chair flipped inside down. In between them are two blocks of ice the same size as the seats. Together, these elements create a scenario ripe with potential energy. As time passes and the ice gradually melts, the original balance of forces collapses, causing the top chair to fall down. The end result is a theatrical demonstration of the natural laws of motion, set into play by human intervention.

How can one establish a truth that cannot be altered by human will? With its immutable facts, mathematics might offer us certainty. In a two-dimensional world, points, lines, and planes constitute the basic elements of space. The longest line segment in a rectangle is its diagonal.

Here, Liao Fei extends a point into a diagonal line, then extrapolates a plane from that line. With each iteration of the process, the plane expands, and the line extends with it, remaining the longest straight line within the space. With each expansion, these lines increasingly approach a state of horizontal flatness. In Science of Logic, Hegel argues that the certainty offered by mathematics is false, owing to its abstract, externally deduced nature. Yet when we view this arrangement of line segments on a real wall, abstract mathematical logic begins to acquire a tangible solidity.

In Signal, Liao Fei uses traffic safety rules to devise a method for “endless” cycling: he pedals through green lights and turns right at red lights without stopping. To create this work, every day for a month he set off from the same intersection, cycling nonstop for one hour while recording his route using tracking software. In this exhibition, video documentation of one bike ride is presented alongside printed maps showing the routes Liao Fei travelled over the 30-day period. This evidence reveals that within the parameters set by the artist, some routes circled around the same neighborhood and others reached into more distant, rarely visited areas. These variations, generated under a fixed set of rules, may also be viewed as a metaphor for the limitations and possibilities of human cognition.

Liao Fei often uses everyday items—in this case plastic cable ties—as a medium through which to explore spatial structure. The design of a cable tie dictates that it can only extend outwards from a single connection point, echoing the unidirectional nature of a ray. Furthermore, its head can only secure the band’s notches if the tie is bent in one direction. Due to these limitations, the artist conceives of the cable tie as a “quarter line”—only extending in one of two directions, and then only able to bend one of two ways. Thus, even though the potential shapes that can be formed by a cable tie may seem infinite, they can be exhausted with relative ease. Liao Fei starts by testing out all the structures that a single cable tie can generate, then moves on to using two, three, and four, methodically cataloguing all their potential arrangements. The finite and infinite coexist in these permutations, outlining the metaphysical essence of everyday objects in a rigorous yet lighthearted manner.

In this piece, the artist selects seven stones of varying weights from the banks of the Charles River in Boston. After attaching buoys to each of these stones, he throws them into the river, attempting to place them in a straight line. In theory, due the different weights of the rocks, the buoys should form an irregularly spaced dotted line. However, in practice the river’s current renders the location of each buoy unpredictable. Though the buoys still float to the surface, the flowing river continues to push them around. The buoys tied to lighter stones more easily drift away, while the locations of those tethered to heavier stones remain relatively stable. As result, the dotted line continuously extends along the river.

Winding Curve is constructed out of pieces of A4 paper, which the artist folds into triangles and then places in pairs mirroring each other. Repeatedly joining these units together, he builds up a structure that from up close appears to be curved. However, as the form extends it begins to define the shape of a straight line. Whereas Liao Fei’s earlier works in some ways resembled physics experiments interacting with his surrounding environment, Winding Curve marks the start of a gradual shift away from external space and materiality. He would begin to focus instead on single elements and logical iteration, exploring the hidden structures and operating mechanisms that undergird perception and experience of the material world.

For Liao Fei, hand gestures and movement patterns not only manifest objective physical properties of the human body, but also carry deep subjective meaning, transcending dimensions and disciplines. In Buddhist iconography, for example, certain hand gestures, called “mudras,” symbolize specific teachings or concepts. In particle physics, the concept of chirality, the left- or right- “handedness” or spin of particles, serves as a key property describing particle behavior. Inspired by this, Liao Fei explores the directionality of abstracted hands in “Chiral Extent.” He experiments with their symmetry and balance, along with the spatial language they are capable of generating. This series of arrangements and iterations underlines the human tendency to use our own bodies as a reference point for how we understand and imagine the world. Occasionally resembling a form of writing, these works also touch upon Liao Fei’s research into seal script (an ancient style of Chinese characters) and how the act of writing mediates the relationship between the individual and the external world.

In the series “Partially Obscured Circles,” Liao Fei continues to use paper folding as a minimalist creative technique, furthering his micro-level exploration of material structures. He starts by marking circles on square sheets of paper of the same size. Next, he folds each piece of paper along lines formed by the square’s corners and points on the circle. Through the folding process, these two-dimensional artworks temporarily intrude upon three-dimensional space, and sections of the circles become obscured. Liao Fei then juxtaposes and layers these basic elements, gradually adding color as he uses the process of deduction to assemble unexpected abstract patterns evoking overlapping clusters of crystal structures. Beneath its seemingly simple, mechanical arrangements, the series exudes a unique lyricism and sense of tranquility.