Brutal Intuition proposes an approach to chance as an affective territory from which to consider migration, luck, risk, and gambling. From the outset, the exhibition begins in a specific location: the Marco Polo Casino in Bogotá. Here, Mai recognizes a space where gambling practices typical of the Chinese community converge with the social, economic, and cultural dynamics of Bogotá. From this point, the question arises of randomness as a symbolic language capable of linking both personal histories and collective structures.
In his exploration of gambling, Mai finds in this space a way to interpret his own family legacy. His grandfather's migration, understood as a leap into the void, and the daily risks his father took in his work, become fragments of a family memory where gambling appears as a way to confront systems whose rules already seem predetermined. Thus, the artist links these stories to broader reflections on meritocracy, stability, debt, and the possibility—or illusion—of a stroke of luck.
From this perspective, the exhibition brings together paintings, a large beaded curtain, and furniture. The works incorporate motifs taken from the Marco Polo Casino, images of gambling, and elements of daily life that Mai displaces into landscapes that oscillate between the real and the illusory. In this way, the beaded curtain operates as a symbolic threshold: an object that refers both to the circulation of popular beliefs and to the transformations that certain Chinese imaginaries undergo when inserted into a Colombian context.
In parallel, Mai's interdisciplinary practice—which has engaged with fashion, accessories, pop culture, everyday aesthetics, history, and, at times, furniture—contributes to PAISAJE a project that transcends the traditional categories of painting or installation. For this reason, the exhibition takes on particular significance as it coincides with PAISAJE's first anniversary: an opportunity to underscore how the hybrid, the experimental, and the undisciplined are essential components of its vision of space.
Ultimately, Brutal Intuition understands the act of gambling not as an escape, but as a gesture that attempts to open up possibilities within systems that are often presented as immutable. Instead of offering definitive answers, the exhibition invites us to consider how chance, intuition, and uncertainty shape both our personal histories and the social landscapes we inhabit.
Project in collaboration with John Anthony Alarcón Páez
