Perrotin gallery in Paris is presenting 'When Beauty Appears', the second solo exhibition by Taiwanese artist Lee Mingwei and his first at the gallery's Paris location. The show features seven interactive works created between 1995 and 2025, including 'La fleur en chemin (The Moving Garden)', 'The Mending Project', and 'The Copyist’s Paradox', which invite visitors to engage directly with the art through simple gestures like offering a flower or mending an object.
The exhibition matters because it challenges conventional notions of art by prioritizing personal, ritualistic engagement over fixed artistic statements. Lee Mingwei's work draws on ancient Chinese concepts of LI (ritual and natural form) to create intimate, participatory experiences that question beauty, connection, and human relationships. This approach offers a politically resonant counterpoint to contemporary cynicism, positioning beauty as a form of resistance and dialogue.