Forget Me Not
Château de Lantheuil, France | June 12 - July 10, 2025
Xu Xang
For the exhibition, Xu Yang (b. 1996 Shandong, China) will develop an entirely new body of work displayed throughout the Château, exploring recurring themes of the Rococo and Asian culture, as well as drawing inspiration from the history of Château de Lantheuil.
Known for her narrative and sumptuous paintings, Xu weaves together memories of her Chinese heritage, and subsequent curiosity in European art history.
Exploring memories, legacy, and time, Xu Yang’s paintings capture the beauty and ephemerality of a culture. Her reimagined still-life paintings and ceramic sculptures offer the viewer an array of intriguing symbols and narrative clues.
As Xu recently said “In something as intimate as the fingerprints of my mother on a sealed dumpling, I see an entire family and community. In something as delicate as the blue petals of a forget-me-not, I see the precariousness of time. And in something as enduring as gold, I see the power of legacy”.
Xu’s paintings and sculptures feature flowers, insects, animals, dumplings, wigs, frames, gold and porcelain.
They blur the line between old masters and contemporary art, conjuring a dialogue between the East and West. Château de Lantheuil was built in 1613. The Louis XIII landmark was home to French economist Marquis Turgot. The Château houses interior decoration from Louis XV to Louis XVI, 1st Empire and Napoleon III.
Placed within the context of Château de Lantheuil and its collection of portraiture and family heirlooms, Xu’s enigmatic paintings invite viewers to consider what a cultural legacy means today.
Lucy von Goetz, Director of von Goetz & Curator of Forget Me Not, said “We are beyond excited to bring the exceptional work of Xu Yang to Lantheuil for her solo exhibition. Xu’s refined visual language, which merges the East and the West, the historic and the contemporary, the earthly and the surreal, is set to engage audiences in a dialogue with the castle’s storied past and its family art collection. This exhibition sets out our commitment to showcasing the finest artists whose work resonates with the time and setting they inhabit.”
This unique exhibition has been made possible by the kind personal permission of the Turgot family.
