Leo Gallery Shanghai｜Roaming Among All Beings

Leo Gallery is pleased to present the group exhibition Roaming Among All Beings. Bringing together works by Armin Boehm, Chen Hongzhi, Chen Kai, Dylan Doe, Yafeng Duan, Gu Xiaoping, Li Peng, Li Yiwen, Liu Zhengyong, Ma Kelu, Mou Huan, Shen Yongji, Wu Jiannan, Xiao Bo, Zhang Ning, and Zhao Yiqian, the exhibition sets off on an impromptu roam through each artist's singular visual language and way of making.

It is like walking into a party with no rules: different temperaments and imaginations meet here. Some explore along familiar threads; some strike out on paths of their own; others stumble upon new pleasures around unexpected corners. Armin Boehm builds intricate visual strata in the interweaving of painting and fiber; Chen Hongzhi stages the absurdity of reality in the entanglement of figures and scenes; Chen Kai layers tens of thousands of pointillist strokes to draw light and color gradually to the surface; Dylan Doe splices body fragments with industrial components through subconscious doodling and collage; Yafeng Duan conjures breathing abstract spaces between the visible and the hidden; Gu Xiaoping seeks visual order in the generation and repetition of form; Li Peng repeatedly overlays color blocks across gradations and densities of space; Li Yiwen probes and extends time in its multi-directional flow; Liu Zhengyong piles up bodily textures with astringent, weighty brushstrokes. No shared tastes are required—together they are enough to make up a rich scene.

As the gaze shifts elsewhere, new relationships begin to take shape. Ma Kelu releases the energy of intuition and action in painting; Mou Huan holds on to vanishing things through multiple layers of thin, translucent color; Shen Yongji explores the interplay of texture and luster through diverse materials; Wu Jiannan moves contemporary urban life into reliefs of black humor; Xiao Bo turns the repetitive mechanism of painting itself into a record on the canvas; Zhao Yiqian answers the images of the pixel age with classical pictorial schemas; Zhang Ning condenses life into constant form in sculpture. Each extends a different visual thread and leaves room for free association in the act of looking. One form may summon another memory; one detail may lead to unexpected discoveries—a reverie of constant comparison, association, and rediscovery.

Roaming Among All Beings situates itself in a field full of possibilities. Different colors, forms, brushstrokes, and materials each constitute their own expression, running parallel, intersecting, and echoing one another, so that existing boundaries grow flexible and viewers may move freely according to their interests. All beings differ; roaming together makes the delight.