Red Gate is pleased to present a new series of paintings, prints and sculptures by Lv Peng. Painting in a signature style that is inspired from the traditional precise‘gong-bi’ technique, Lv creates a universe of head-on collision and coexistence with multiple personages from days of yore and today. Using a highly complex and constructed composition coupled with an uncanny play on scale and proportion, Lv’s works are like a labyrinth of visual symbols and the narrative is at once surreal and sensual to the viewer. In the painting “Bamboo and Plum Blossoms” the main character enters a literati scholar's garden of bamboo and blossoms to discover a Lilliputian universe with an intertwined couple emerging from classical erotic paintings as suggested by the lady in bound feet. Lv also injects whimsy by way of an eclectic mix of fashion, combining the nostalgic Mao suit with Pu-Yi tainted round glasses and a bob haircut on the principal personage. The dramatic atmosphere is enhanced by theatrical red curtains being drawn on each side of the painting. In the world of Lv Peng’s art, there is a concerted and chaotic mélange of people and places which seems to rhyme with the current change and pace of China.

The vernissage wil be at the Watchtower 3 - 5 pm, 25 September and the exhibtion will run till 23 October