Qualia Contemporary Art makes its Art Central Hong Kong debut with a duo presentation of new paintings by Lyu Peng and Xu Hongming at Booth A1.
This exhibition traces the divergent trajectories of contemporary Chinese painting, placing Lyu’s theatrical figuration in direct conversation with Xu’s luminous, systems-based abstraction. While both artists use a shared material vocabulary—ink, mineral pigment, silk, and xuan paper—they arrive at opposing methods of investigating the mutability of Chinese tradition. Lyu’s work carefully balances narrative density and the staged illumination of symbolic figures, whereas Xu’s practice focuses on the diffusion of light within atmospheric fields. Together, they articulate diverging movements in contemporary Chinese painting: one oriented toward a maximalist documentation of the present, and the other toward a materialist deconstruction of the image.
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Lyu Peng
LYU Peng is a Chinese contemporary painter who was born in Beijing, China in 1967 and received his PhD in Chinese Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China in 2007. He is a Director at the Beijing Association of Meticulous Painting, the Managing Director and Deputy Secretary-General of the Beijing Institute of Education Art Education Research Association, and a Director of the Pastel Society of Beijing.
LYU has exhibited widely nationally and internationally at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; Today Art Museum, Beijing, China; Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, China; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China; Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea;
Prajna Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; among others. LYU has exhibited as part of the 2013 Venice Biennale, Italy-China Biennial in Monza, Italy, FIAC, Paris, France; Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Art Chicago, Chicago, IL; Art Now Art Fair, Miami, FL; and ART ASIA Art Fair, Miami, FL.
His works are in the private and public collections of the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; Meilun Art Museum, China; Xiamen Art Museum, China; Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, China; Prajna Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea; Geoje Arts Center, Geoje, South Korea; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Asian Art Coordinating Council, Denver, CO; among others.
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Xu Hongming
Born in Hunan province, Xu Hongming studied in the Sculpture Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. In 1992, he conducted independent research of the ancient murals and sculptures along the Hexi Corridor. Xu currently lives and works in Beijing.
Xu has exhibited nationally and internationally including solo and group exhibitions at Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China; Whitebox Art Center, Beijing, China; Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, CA; Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey; UCCA, Beijing, China; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; Today Art Museum, Beijing, China, Shanghai Art Museum, OCAT Xi’an (Xi’an, China); Buffalo University Art Gallery, New York; Larunxinge Museum, Netherlands; MACRO Museum, Rome, Italy; among others. XU has participated in several art fairs including Beijing Contemporary Art Fair in 2023; Art Market San Francisco in 2022; Art Shenzhen and DnA Shenzhen in 2023.
Xu’s works are in the permanent collections of Shanghai Art Museum, Shenzhen Art Museum, Fred Art Foundation, Yuz Museum (Shanghai), M+ Museum (Hong Kong), and White Rabbit Museum (Sydney).