WHAT
The prominent Beijing-based Chinese artist (b.1958) is known for producing art that reflects the socio-cultural transformation of China over the past few decades. His works focus on the intersections between the individual and the collective, the private and the public, and between imagination and memory. The artist’s first exhibition in three years gathers over 80 of his works, including oil on paper, oil on canvas, installation and preliminary sketches. They aim to present the artist’s commitment to expanding the limits of possibility in painting and his incisive response to the present situation as an individual caught in the tides of history.

WHY
The brand-new ‘Mayfly Diary’ series is the highlight of the exhibition, with complex artworks formed from hand-torn pieces of paper. By subjecting the paper to a range of techniques, such as recombination, puncture, engraving, and dying, the artist allows paper to become a physical extension of the painting’s narrative. This exhibition reminds people that despite the changes in society, people can still turn to the light of art for comfort and meaning in life. The artworks invite viewers to reassess how they look at the world, and therefore to re-establish their relation to their inner life and the past.