WEST BUND ART & DESIGN 2025

A pioneer of Chinese abstract painting, Zhu Jinshi presents two new large-scale works, The Rainstorm Turned the Scene into a River (2025) and Temple of the Ten-Thousand-Fathom Taihang (2025), that extend his signature “thick painting” practice. Layers of pigment more than ten centimetres deep form sculptural surfaces that pulse with movement and time. Zhu’s paintings merge the spirit of Chinese philosophy with the materiality of paint, transforming gesture into a meditation on matter, energy, and being.

Su Xiaobai’s lacquer works, distinguished by their textured, shell-like surfaces and gracefully curved forms, merge a deep respect for tradition with contemporary aesthetic. This presentation, featuring the Shanghai debut of the Niao Niao series, reflects his enduring inquiry into materiality and spiritual presence. This showcase offers a preview of Su’s exhibition at Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel as an official Collateral Event of the 2026 Venice Biennale, organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

British artist Damian Elwes will exhibit Matisse’s Flower Balcony, Nice (2025) and Kerry James Marshall’s Studio in Chicago (2020) from his celebrated Artist Studios series. Through these vibrant depictions of creative spaces, Elwes pays homage to artistic legacies while capturing the colour, rhythm, and atmosphere that define them. Influenced by Hans Hofmann and Keith Haring, he paints with both hands, transforming colour and gesture into a visual meditation on creativity and emotion.

Alimi Adewale’s richly textured paintings reinterpret African identity and urban experience through abstraction. His Femme Terra (2024) portrays the embodiment of Mother Earth as a symbol of nurture and renewal. Bridging realism and abstraction, Adewale celebrates the divine feminine as a life-giving force, a dialogue that will continue in his first solo exhibition with the gallery in Shanghai in March 2026.

Ni Zhiqi’s works, including Like a Cloud (2018) and Morning in Sicily (2018), continue his poetic exploration of perception and silence. Using handmade paper and linen to fuse collage and painting, he constructs minimal compositions that evoke lightness and introspection. Drawing from travel and memory, Ni’s restrained palette and soft surfaces turn simplicity into an emotional and spiritual presence.

Completing the presentation are major works by Leonardo Drew, whose porcelain and charcoal reliefs explore cycles of transformation; Michal Korman, who reflects on memory through intimate still lifes; and Mr Doodle, whose playful universes of lines invite viewers into a world of dynamic energy. Together, these artists exemplify the gallery’s commitment to dialogue across material, culture, and time.

“West Bund Art & Design continues to be one of Asia’s most important platforms for cross-cultural conversation,” says Pearl Lam, Founder of Pearl Lam. “Our presentation reflects the evolution of abstraction as a living language, bridging the East and West, and uniting the material with the spiritual.”

Courtesy Pearl Lam