Eli Klein Projects is presenting “Xiao Se’s solo exhibition, Beijing,” an exhibibition showcasing the Chinese artist's latest series as he broadens his interest in the mundane-turned-surreal, constructing images of contemporary Chinese men and women in characteristically ambiguous spaces and attitudes.Keeping with the distinguishing traits of his previous work, Xiao Se paints fleshy, photorealistic figures that inhabit surrealist spaces filled with pools of water, broken ceramics, and those trademark long-stemmed red flowers. The artist is a collector of images, both historical and contemporary. His connoisseurship of European art history shows in his appropriation of Madonna imagery, done often out of irreverence rather than worship. In other cases, Xiao Se’s compositions seem to be made up of figures culled from a personal photo album. I love the juxtaposition of the plane on this otherwise rural life picture (left)