Book Signing & Gallery Tour: 'Chinese Puzzles: Games for the Hands and Mind' September 20, 2008

In conjunction with its Chinese Puzzles exhibition, the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco will be organizing a book signing event to celebrate the publication of "Chinese Puzzles: Games for the Hands and Mind".

Photographer Niana Liu and authors Wei Zhang and Peter Rasmussen will be on hand to sign copies of the book and to lead visitors on gallery tours.

Part exhibition catalog and part photographic exploration, this beautiful book uses as its subject matter the traditional Chinese puzzles on display in the Chinese Culture Center's current exhibition. However the forms, textures and colors of the antique puzzles are given new life through the eyes and lens of San Francisco-based painter-photographer-designer Niana Liu.

Chinese Puzzles: Games for the Hands and Mind was written by Bay Area residents Wei Zhang and Peter Rasmussen, who collected the puzzles during twelve years of travels crisscrossing China and exploring Western antique markets. This book is the first to document the rapidly disappearing forms of handcrafted Chinese puzzles.

Niana Liu photographed the puzzles using natural light, resulting in the book's distinctly non-catalog appearance. Niana's youth and spirit convey the same playfulness to the reader that is such an integral component of puzzle solving.

Visitors are encouraged to come as early 10:00 am to enjoy the Chinese Culture Center's free exhibition, Chinese Puzzles: Games for the Hands and Mind, which runs until October 11. This exhibition includes antique Chinese puzzles, puzzling objects, visual puzzles, and cleverly designed practical objects, such as puzzle rings and multi-step padlocks. An important part of the Chinese Puzzles exhibition is its hands-on component. While the antique puzzles on display please the eye, visitors also have a chance to challenge their hands and minds by playing with and solving an assortment of newly made Chinese puzzles.

Free.

Official Website: http://www.c-c-c.org