From December 20, 2025, to March 15, 2026, X Museum partners with Shanghai Taikoo Li Qiantan to present the Thai artist Gongkan’s solo exhibition, When I Wake within Sleep, at The Pool by X Museum. This exhibition presents twelve works created by Gongkan in recent years, including ten paintings, one sculpture, and a site-specific installation commissioned by X Museum. The exhibition title, When I Wake within Sleep, places “Wake” and “Sleep” within the same semantic space. By capturing the momentary, vague and difficult to define individual state between consciousness and subconsciousness, it explores the complex situation of individual identity in the absolute binary framework. In Freud’s model of the psyche, the Ego constantly navigates the boundary between the Id and the Superego, striving to reconcile the conflicting demands of desire and social regulation, offering a glimpse into the deeper dynamics of the Self.

Gongkan continues his signature visual language in this exhibition, constructing a visual field between reality and surreality with warm and bright colors, soft lines and still character postures. The figures are often placed in environments detached from specific temporal or spatial contexts, naturally directing attention to the recurring oval-shaped black void. In this exhibition, the void is no longer solely a symbol of psychological darkness; it is extended as a metaphor for the structure of identity itself—an internal space that expands, overlaps, and resists reduction to a single interpretive framework. Growing up within a Thai-Chinese family, the artist faced clearly defined notions of right and wrong, societal expectations regarding life paths and traditional gender roles, and spiritual beliefs that could not be contained within a single religion. These differences gradually became the core of his lifelong questioning: What makes something right or wrong? And who decides? Within this ongoing inquiry, the void functions as a conduit between inner and outer spaces, between the individual and the world, allowing the artist to reflect upon and deconstruct the multiple dimensions of his own identity, while inviting viewers into a selfhood that is continuously opened, revealed, and embraced.

The exhibition reviews the creative path of artists in recent years, not in pursuit to give certain conclusions, but to present a self constantly negotiating within binary structures. Through tangible objects and symmetrically arranged spatial forms, the artist translates reflections on morality, emotion, identity, and belief into perceptible images. The overlapping of light and shadow, the misalignment of dreams and sobriety, and the exchange flow of internal and external make the work present a narrative style that is both open and introspective. Each work is like a momentary experience that has been intercepted. They echo each other, but remain independent: when will the Self wake up and whether it really leave the dream? It seems to be connected in the invisible space, forming an uncertain Self. And this uncertainty may be a new “answer” – in the continuous self-questioning, allowing imperfection, including the binary structure, respecting all aspects of oneself, and finally allowing the individual to continue to move forward between multiple identities and emotions.

The exhibition is curated by Michael Xufu Huang and Ian Donghui Lyu. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Taikoo Li Qiantan, the X Museum Patrons, X Museum Annual Corporate Sponsor Tikkurila. In collaboration with Art Cooool, X Museum will host a pop-up section featuring exhibition-related products on the second floor of the exhibition space during the show.

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