View of the exhibition “The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China,” 2020, showing (foreground) Xu Bing’s 1st Class, 2011, 500,000 1st Class brand cigarettes, spray adhesive, and carpet, at the Smart Museum of Art.

Xu Bing: Tobacco Book, 2011, tobacco leaves, paper, and cardboard, rubber-stamped with a passage from A True Discourse on the Present State of Virginia by Ralph Hamor; at the Smart Museum of Art.

gu wenda: united nations: american code, 1995–2019, human hair, dimensions variable; at the Smart Museum of Art.

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Civilization Pillar, 2001/19, human fat, stearic acid, paraffin wax, petroleum jelly, and metal support; at the Smart Museum of Art.

Zhu Jinshi: Wave of Materials, 2007, Xuan paper, cotton, thread, bamboo, and stones, dimensions variable; at Wrightwood 659.

Gu Dexin: Untitled, 1989, melted and adjoined plastic, dimensions variable; at the Smart Museum of Art.

Gu Dexin: Untitled, 1989, melted and adjoined plastic, dimensions variable; at the Smart Museum of Art.

Gu Dexin: Untitled, 1989, melted and adjoined plastic, dimensions variable; at the Smart Museum of Art.

View of the exhibition “The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China,” 2020, showing (left to right) Hu Xiaoyuan’s Ant Bone IV, 2015, Sui Jianguo’s Kill, 1996, Wang Jin’s The Dream of China: Dragon Robe, 1997, and Dream of China No. 2, 1998, at Wrightwood 659.

View of the exhibition “The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China,” 2020, showing (bottom) Liu Jianhua’s Black Flame, 2017, and (top) Shi Hui’s Float, 2000/07/13, at Wrightwood 659.

Liang Shaoji: Chains: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Nature Series, No.79, 2002–07, polyurethane, colophony, iron powder, silk, and cocoons; at Wrightwood 659.

Cai Guo-Qiang: Mountain Range, 2006, gunpowder on paper mounted on a six-panel wood screen; at the Smart Museum of Art.