Somewhere in childhood we got the notion that everything we lost — every sock, sweater, button, or bauble — was snatched up by a pixie and put to some fantastical use (it made losses a lot easier). Moving through the sculptures of Ma Li is like being granted access to that other world. Hula hoops spin through the gauzy limbs of a candy-colored tree made of fabric scraps; an interdimensional space station rises from Mylar and Plexiglas remnants, generating prisms of disco-ball luminescence; fields of delicate flowers grow out of neon plastic jewelry and cast-off electronics. Li was born in Fuzhou, China, and her work sits at the crossroads of mythology and pop culture, simultaneously inspired by the interdependence of human populations and the animist nature of objects. Over the past four months, she has been an artist in residence at Recology SF, working her alchemy on our detritus. Today, she invites us to join her in ceremonially constructing her latest "living sculpture," Gathering Among Stars.
Ma Li gets started at 6:30 p.m. at the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., S.F. Free-$5; 415-581-3701 or asianart.org.
415-581-3500
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