Leo Gallery Hong Kong | Chen Hongzhi: Theatre of Silence

Chen Hongzhi's solo exhibition, Theatre of Silence will be opening on 23 October, 2025, at Leo Gallery Hong Kong. Following his group exhibition Layers of Beings: Image and Soul at our Shanghai space earlier this year. This solo exhibition extended his artistic brushstrokes and showcases the artist's works from 2018 to the present. From the large swathes of black in 2018 to highlight individuals, to the subsequent dramatic reduction of the proportion of the crowd. Faces on the canvas appear either concealed or blurred, with overlapping hues of human silhouettes extending into vast spaces. The contradictory relationship between figures, reality, and nothingness constitutes the theatre constructed by the artist—a theatre for the figures within the paintings, and even more so, the theatre where we are at.

Whether in the past or present, the intricate figures in Chen Hongzhi's paintings have never existed in isolation. His 2018 series and subsequent works have expanded from a single image to project an entire collective. Chen often emphasizes that his work engages with the familiar realms we inhabit, where artistic creation and contemporary life mutually reflect each other. Thus, when these scattered shells, bearing individual histories, converge within today's social collective, the characters respond to the silent passage of time with their own silence, collectively composing a vast social tapestry. The show emphasizes the refraction of light and shadow, distorting vast spaces. Darkness crafts scenes of terrifying nightmares, while light reveals visions of future and hope. Within this realm, characters flow within the space. Regardless of subject matter or depicted actions, the scenes suggested by props and spaces never exist, yet the perceptible essence has long lingered tangibly among us.

Stepping outside the painting to survey the stage, the characters instantly shrink to insignificance from the observer's perspective. Chen Hongzhi's artistic style is three-dimensional, using canvas and paint as linguistic carriers yet breaking through the frame to resonate with viewers. Breaking the fourth wall, we examine ourselves, being a collective adrift in this world. This silent drama unfolds day after day, reverberating in every second of our daily life.