Fool's Hour: A Solo Exhibition by Xinyu Liu curated by John Yau

M. David & Co. at Art Cake in partnership with Yellow Chair Salon

April 17 - May 10, 2026 Opening reception: Friday, April 17, 6-8 pm

Studio 10 Art Cake: 214 40th Street, Brooklyn Hours: Friday & Saturday, 1-6 pm and by appointment

Xinyu Liu is a young Chinese artist whose work is about the journey she undertook to become an artist. After graduating from the Shanghai Institute of Technology with a degree in product design, Liu immigrated to New York and enrolled in the School of Visual Art (SVA), where she got her MFA in fine art. The subject of her thesis exhibition, which she has continued to expand upon, was migration. Made of acrylic parts fitted together, her motorized ferris wheel goes nowhere, a fitting metaphor for being both an artist and an immigrant who recognizes that art and life are inseparable, and that the destination was not as important as the act of making and growing. Her work in different mediums share something with the beliefs of the Japanese hermit poet, Basho, who wrote: “The journey itself is the home.” When Liu applied to be part of the Yellow Chair Salon, Michael David, who founded and directed the program, and I recognized that Liu was already an artist and that she did not need mentoring. We offered to meet with her privately and support her efforts to have a solo exhibition, which we guaranteed she could have at Art Cake. Since that meeting, I have met with Liu regularly and watched her work evolve, as she began exploring different mediums, including working in wood, ceramics, etching, and drawing. During these visits, I learned that she was a deft calligrapher and skilled in object making out of acrylic. Her mastery of ancient and post-modern practices bodes well for her future. Michael and I are proud to help launch Liu’s career.

John Yau