The Isle of Fantasy

About

Boats are independent islands on the canal, they are moveable cosy shelters, carrying the positive and negative emotions of city dwellers. Two artists from Central Saint Martins (Zhengwei Li and Long Huang) invite visitors to explore a collection of magical art, each bound with complex emotions, the artists' fantasies, escapes from their lives. This exhibition contains some adult content.

Zhengwei Li (Eloise) and Long Huang are London-based Chinese artists, graduating from Central St Martins MA Fine Art later this summer.

Zhengwei has been studying Chinese painting for over seven years. Her art is partly influenced by the unique brushwork and ‘Qi’ from traditional art and calligraphy.  Her paintings often depict imaginary creatures in exceptional settings. Their ambivalence creates tension and insecurity.

Long’s work seeks to imagine and reshape what is known/unknown. He avoids referencing images that might take the initiative in the painting. The motive for his creation depends on the subconscious. It can be a certain detail, a certain posture of a character, a certain sentence in a paragraph, a moment that is not fully recorded. He sees painting as a poetic self-fulfilling process. There can be a desirable incompleteness, a continuous presentation. This process is also a strong expression of melancholic emotion, a constant feeling of absence and a desire for presence.