Su Xiaobai’s lacquer works

Su Xiaobai will open “Alchemical Universe” in Venice on May 9, filling Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel with lacquer works as an official event of the 2026 Biennale. (wallpaper.com) The show runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, matching the dates of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. La Biennale lists the 2026 edition, titled “In Minor Keys,” with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. (labiennale.org) The exhibition is set in Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel, a late-Gothic Venetian palazzo in Cannaregio that Wallpaper reports was built in 1473 for the Soranzo family. La Biennale’s venue listing says the building has four renovated floors, about 3,000 square meters of covered exhibition space, and two courtyards. (wallpaper.com) (labiennale.org) Su works in natural lacquer, a resin-based material with a long history in East Asian decorative arts that he has pushed into thick, sculptural painting surfaces. Pearl Lam Galleries says his works range from shell-like finishes to curved profiles and abraded textures rather than conventional flat canvases. (pearllam.com) That medium sits at the center of Su’s career. The Su Xiaobai Foundation says he was born in Wuhan in 1949 and studied in Wuhan, Beijing and Düsseldorf before building a practice between Shanghai and Düsseldorf. (suxiaobai-foundation.org) The Venice project also places Su inside the Biennale’s official collateral program, which is separate from the main curated exhibition but recognized by La Biennale. E-flux says the show is presented by the Su Xiaobai Foundation in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and curated by Stephen Little. (e-flux.com) Wallpaper reports the works were made during the Biennale period, tying the exhibition to Venice’s 2026 art calendar rather than treating it as a survey of older pieces. That gives the show a split frame: a traditional material, a newly made body of work, and a 15th-century Venetian setting. (wallpaper.com) By the time the Biennale opens in May, visitors will encounter Su’s lacquer surfaces inside one of Venice’s historic private palazzi, with the exhibition staying up through November 22. (suxiaobai-foundation.org) (labiennale.org)