The first encounter when visiting Wang Gongxin’s exhibition “Rotation” at White Cube, Hong Kong, was not visual, but olfactory. An overpowering smell of ink wafted through every square inch of the space, readjusting our faculties for a multisensory presentation. A long, black table was placed squarely at the center of the gallery’s lower floor, with two naked light bulbs suspended from the ceiling, taking turns to descend and seemingly enter the surface of the desk. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the “table” is actually a deep pool of Chinese ink contained within the rims of a wide, shallow black container. The installation, titled Dialogue (1995), is visually minimal, arresting the viewer’s attention on the two light bulbs that dance in tandem. When the bulbs gently dip into the placid liquid—into the darkness of the ink—their glows vanish, engulfed by the opacity of the earthy, dark fluid, leaving behind only ripples on the pool’s surface.

One such work is Wang’s Horizontal (2017), displayed in the upper-floor gallery. It stood in a corner of a room, featuring a rickety wooden table with one leg planted in a smooth, gold-painted stone, creating a slanted, lopsided posture that leads our eyes toward a black steel container placed in the hollowed-out center of the tabletop. This black insert at first appears skewed, but it is actually lying parallel to the ground. This precarious setup’s intricate construction belies its presupposed stability and function, and creates a visual tension between the contrasting elements: the frame of the traditional Chinese table harks back to the artist’s cultural roots, though its core has been removed and replaced with something newer and tougher. This work seemingly points to the discombobulation one might experience when integrating two distinct—even diametric—identities into ones life.

So too does the installation Unseatable (1995), which Wang created before moving back to his homeland. First exhibited at an artist-run space in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, the work consists of a suspended light bulb that circulates above a formation of four steel chairs that face each other. Two seats are, as in Dialogue, filled to the brim with black ink, and the other two contain white milk, again filling the exhibition space with their rich aromas. The incense-like whiff of black ink and sweet scent of the white milk beguiles the viewer, while the motorized rotating bulb moves above the seats like a hawk that cannot decide where to land. Here, Wang demonstrates his ability to bestow complexity within his chosen mediums, transcribing the emotions of uncertainty he felt at a time of cultural adaptation and change.