SOLO, but never alone

Alongside down down down jacket, Solo also presents Zishi Han and Wei Yang’s collaborative video-work Hairpin Beneath: The Stone of Three Lives (2025), its title suggesting the gesture of a man removing his ceremonial headgear and putting a woman’s hairpin. Han and Yang start from their translation of the late Ming dynasty anthology of homoerotic stories 弁而釵 (Biàn ér chai) by the pseudonymous The Moon-Heart Master of the Drunken West Lake. Their video-work reimagines translated excerpts from 情贞纪 (Qingzhen ji or A Story of Faithful Love), one of the homoerotic stories from the late Ming dynasty anthology 弁而釵 (Biàn ér chāi). The story tells of an academician destabilized by his attachment to a student, disguising himself as a colleague. This becomes a scene of reading and misreading, where identity is reorganized and translated through substitution and replacement. Translation not as a step, but as the atmosphere everything happens in. Wei Yang was inspired by Literati painting, where the aim was not to depict nature realistically, but to satisfy the heart. Emotions in drag, interiority learning to pass as mountain, river, mist. A similar logic unfolds in Danmei literature and aesthetics, circulating within funü (腐女) reading groups, where intimacy is structured not through realism but through affective intensity, delay, excess, and drama. In the video work, this is acted out as a structure of translation. Two figures speak, like in a reality show, but speech seems to pass through them. Their discursive roles never stabilise, just words passing through bodies. What happens is a language that moves by slipping into dramatic exits. The same logic extends into the sculptural and material field: nothing resolves into objecthood, everything remains slightly in translation. Intimacy becomes a cadence, a modulation of proximity and withdrawal. In down down down jacket, Yang constructs an atmosphere where this logic becomes material: you will be held, you will be warmed, you will land safely. text by Daniela Custrin photo: Cătălin Georgescu Zishi Han and Wei Yang, Hairpin Beneath: The Stone of Three Lives, HD single-channel video, 2025, commissioned by SculptureCenter

Wei Yang’s solo exhibition down down down jacket is now on view until 31st, May. The title refers to a garment derived from the fine, soft plumage of geese, lightweight, insulating, enclosing warmth, suggesting both protection and intimacy, while also implying an ongoing extraction form and occupation of nature. The title repeats down like a word that cannot stop choosing itself, each repetition being like a near-synonym that never quite escapes the form of the original. A jacket down as feather, down as descent, down as lowering, down as temperature. The word doesn’t move forward. When I see a feather in the wind, every movement already feels like a rehearsal for landing, even when there is no ground in sight. down down down Roland Barthes comes back to my mind, his idea that fashion is not really about objects but about language. A jacket is never just a jacket, it is already a sentence. To wear is therefore to be read, and to be read is already to be translated. text by Daniela Custrin photo credits: Cătălin Georgescu 1. installation view, 2026 2. u don’t go away, light installation, 2025 3. u don’t go away, details, 2025 4. xandu 1, sculpture, 2026 5. times up 1, sculpture, 2026 6. 4U, installation, 2026

We are pleased to announce the opening of Solo’s new exhibition space at Combinatul Fondului Plastic with the debut solo exhibition of artist Wei Yang: “down down down jacket”. This event also marks the official launch of the RAD Curatorial Summit. The exhibition “down down down jacket” invites viewers into a complex sensory universe where the title serves as a dual metaphor for protection and vulnerability. Here, “down” signifies both the insulating warmth of plumage and the gravity of an emotional descent. Wei Yang constructs an atmosphere where identity is reorganized through the lens of translation and emotions “pass” as landscape. In this immersive environment, intimacy is structured through affective intensity and sensual modulation, reflecting the artist’s suggestion: “If you turn the water upside down you will see a sky.” Concluding this exploration of identity and desire is the collaborative video-work with Zishi Han: “Hairpin Beneath: Three Lives of the Stone” (2025). Drawing from late Ming dynasty homoerotic anthologies and the aesthetics of Danmei literature, the work created with Zishi Han anchors the exhibition’s themes in a historical and literary dialogue, weaving together past and present notions of intimacy. Visit Us Opening: Wednesday, 22nd of April, 15h00 Dates: 22.04 – 31.05.2026 Hours: Wed – Sat, 14h00 – 18h00 Location: Combinatul Fondului Plastic Credits Curatorial Text: Daniela Custrin Poster Design: Alice Voinea Special Thanks: We extend our deepest gratitude to our friends who helped us bring this project to light in such a remarkably short time, providing invaluable technical support and enthusiasm: 🩷Anca Poterasu Gallery ❤️Catinca Tabacaru Gallery 🧡Salonul de proiecte 💛Ivan Gallery 💚Tudor Breazu 🩵Ovidiu Toader 💙Nelu Iordache 💜Adrian Țuțuianu 🩶Robert Roșu Hospitality Partners: Cheers to the partners who make sure we land safely but never thirsty: 🍺Bere Zăganu for providing craft for our curatorial debates 🥃Glenfiddich Whiskey for keeping the energy as high as our standards

We are thrilled to announce SOLO’s participation in the 20th Anniversary Special Edition of Art Dubai 2026 with a solo presentation by Honduras-born, Lebanon-based fiber artist Adrian Pepe developed in dialogue with UAE-based designer and artist Omar Al Gurg. Rooted in long-standing exchanges between the Middle East, Africa, South and East Asia and Eastern Europe, Art Dubai remains one of the few international fairs where the Global South operates not as a curatorial supplement, but as a structural premise. Now in its 20th edition, the fair brings together artists, galleries and institutions from across geographies and contexts, creating a space where artistic practices, material histories and critical conversations intersect within one of the world’s most dynamic cultural cities. Adrian Pepe’s practice centers on the wool of the Awassi sheep, a Levantine breed increasingly discarded by industrial textile systems. Through processes of felting, stitching, braiding and compression Pepe transforms residual fibers into dense tactile surfaces where plant, animal, human and territory converge. Developed in dialogue with Omar Al Gurg’s modular concrete interventions, the booth unfolds through a material tension between soft and hard infrastructures, textile and architecture, accumulation and fragmentation. This presentation is generously supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR România). ART DUBAI – Special Edition Madinat Jumeirah 15–17 May 2026 13:00–20:00

Omar Al Gurg is a Dubai-born designer and founder of MODU Method, whose practice sits at the intersection of functionality, community and cultural narrative. Shaped by architectural studies abroad and a deep attentiveness to his own roots, Al Gurg approaches design as a form of storytelling, one in which the practical and the meaningful are never at odds. His work operates from a clear ethos: that good design should be accessible, purposeful and alive with character. Each object produced through MODU Method carries within it a considered set of references: personal, cultural, communal, translated into forms that are as thoughtful in their construction as they are in their intent. At the core of Al Gurg’s practice is a commitment to expanding the reach of design beyond the rarefied, building instead toward a landscape in which craftsmanship and narrative coexist with everyday life. The result is a body of work that enriches its context quietly but distinctly, design that does not announce itself, but stays with you.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ This May, Omar Al Gurg steps into the role of designer, bringing a focused selection of Adrian Pepe’s work to Art Dubai (15–17 May) under the presentation of SOLO.

Adrian Pepe is a Honduras-born fiber artist based in Beirut whose practice is rooted in a sustained inquiry into process and materiality. Working across wall hangings, installations and soft sculpture, he weaves together elements of nature and culture to produce objects that operate simultaneously as aesthetic propositions and sites of dialogue: on materiality, on shifting cultural landscapes, on present conditions. His works are dense with intention: laden with artistry, emotion, mythology and symbolism, they function as hybridized skins that carry within them a multiplicity of histories, cartographies and cosmologies. Each piece resists singular reading, unfolding instead as a layered encounter between material and meaning. This May, a focused selection of Adrian’s work will be presented at Art Dubai (15–17 May), curated by designer Omar Al Gurg, offering an entry point into a practice that is as rigorous as it is deeply felt.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Photo: 𝘈𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘱𝘦, 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 2.0, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘓𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯, 2024

Xandu 2 Papier-mâché, watercolor, pencil, spray paint, orange, stainless steel, LED size I will measure later, 2026

Xandu 1 is now on view at @solo.butneveralone through May 31 as part of my show. Papier-mâché, watercolor, pencil, spray paint, fig, epoxy resin, jar lid, LED size I will measure later, 2026 Thank you @robertbajenaru @alinebucur , for the wonderful week, and @danacuss for the wonderful text. xx.

Meet the RAD Galleries! Solo @solo.projectspace Solo gallery, founded 2025 as the next chapter of Cazul101 project space, shows exclusively solo exhibitions of emerging artists from around the world.  Each exhibition engages with an individual artistic practice in depth, highlighting rigorous and distinctive voices. April 23-26 2026 | @carohotel.ro Presented by @banca_transilvania #RAD2026 ——— Images STOP WAR (exhibition and fund-raising for Ukrainian refugees) Nikita Kadan, Dan Perjovschi, Adriana Preda, Ciprian Muresan, Mona Vătămanu and Florin Tudor, Vitaly Bezpalov, SABA, Marc Bauer, StefanSava. 14.04-21.05 2022 Vienna Contemporary art fair Zone1 SOLO Presentation Fabian Reetz, 11-14 September 2025 S H O W M E A BETTER WAY Joachim Perez 28.05-13.08 2022, That Place Called Abundance SOLO exhibition by Alex Bodea 31 October - 06 December, 2025 East German Gothic Studies Fabian Reetz 11 April - 4 May 2024

about last week 💜 🙏 Huge thanks to @solo.projectspace (@robertbajenaru & @alinebucur ) for the trust & support in making Blue Field (Câmp Albastru) lecture-performance happen, to those who made it possible through logistical support (@salonuldeproiecte , @non.artspace , @ivangallery ), ❤️ to all the people who helped & encouraged me throughout the first stage of my research in Timișoara on the women who gave birth during the Revolution in dec ’89 (Alina Pop, @noite.na.floresta , @andra.matzal , @andrei_becheru , Ani & @bia.is.a , @kunsthallebega , @christinecizmas , Dana Iacob, Narcis Hrubaru, Denis & Camelia Chira, @giaa.energia , @florinakkis , @jasmina_mitrici , @weneedtotalkaboutlorgean , @of_cairo , Mihai Gafencu, @monimargareta , Mona Donici, Raluca Iacob, Victoria Chitcariu, @vlad.cindea , @ursulean ) and of course to everyone who joined us last Wednesday for an approx 40-min emotional rollercoaster. And yes, I wanted to acknowledge everyone involved in one way or another, because sometimes it truly takes a village to make something like this happen. Thank you ✨🙏 For those who couldn’t make it, I have good news: Blue Field (Câmp Albastru) will take place again this autumn in a place near you (TBA). Photos & videos by @dragospetrichor , @alinebucur , @crstrdu , @grigorescudimitrie , @robertbajenaru , @i_am_costea

“–Cred că ești cam de vârsta lui Denis, fiul meu. – Da. M-am născut în decembrie 1989. – Serios? – Da, pe 6 decembrie. Denis s-a mirat cât de deschisă am fost să accept întâlnirea. – Mamă, ai fi dispusă să dai un interviu? – Da. – De ce? – Pentru că se așterne un con de umbră peste tot ce-a fost atunci.” Fragment dintr-un interviu realizat de Nicoleta Moise cu o femeie care a născut în timpul Revoluției din decembrie ’89. O pată neagră în istoria recentă. O tragedie despre care se vorbește tot mai puțin. Proiectul Nicoletei Moise, început la Timișoara,„Caut 5 femei care au născut în Timișoara între 16–20 decembrie 1989”, recuperează povești fragile, intime, dar esențiale pentru memoria colectivă. Prima parte a cercetării ia forma unei lecturi performative, sub titlul “Câmp Albastru”, în această seară, de la ora 19:00, la Solo Project Space. Fidelă unei practici care necesită un timp îndelungat, Nicoleta Moise dezvăluie istorii uitate, zone de tăcere și memorie suspendată, transformând documentarea într-un gest artistic. Mai mult decât o cercetare. O colecție de povești. O colecție de istorie. /// Această creație artistică este realizată printr-o finanțare Energie! Burse de creație, acordată de Municipiul Timișoara, prin Centrul de Proiecte. Creația nu reprezintă în mod necesar poziția Centrului de Proiecte al Municipiului Timișoara, iar acesta nu este responsabil de conținutul ei sau de modul în care poate fi folosită. @centruldeproiecte Mulțumiri speciale prietenilor și partenerilor care au făcut posibilă, prin sprijin logistic, realizarea performance-ului din această seară. @salonuldeproiecte @non.artspace @ivangallery Looking forward to seeing you tonight!

Happy Year of the Horse! Across art history the horse has stood as a symbol of power, velocity and defiance moving from the Parthenon marbles to Théodore Géricault’s “The Charging Chasseur”, from Eadweard Muybridge’s groundbreaking study “The Horse in Motion” and resurfacing in contemporary art through Michaël Borremans’ “The Horse” or Maurizio Cattelan’s suspended figure in “Novecento”. Whether monumental, fragmented or conceptually reframed, the horse persists as an image of propulsion and psychic force where myth, movement and modern identity collide. May this Lunar New Year be driven by bold energy, creative freedom, and the courage to move forward without restraint. Artwork: Marius Bodea, Untitled, 2018, oil on paper mounted on wood | Courtesy of Ileana Nomikos collection