MOU PROJECTS is pleased to present “Pause, Arise,” Zhong Tianyue’s first solo exhibition with the gallery as well as in Hong Kong. Featuring a selection of paintings that evolve from figuration to abstraction, the exhibition displays a poetic, painterly investigation of historical records and beliefs, showcasing how the artist slowly and generously unfolds her informed perceptions and constructed impressions.

In her figurative works, Zhong re-enacts histories and re-examines the definition of historical documentation—it is more than a recount of what happened but an exploration of the capacity of histories to inform one’s epistemology and therefore affect the individual perception of the self and the present reality. Orange II (all works 2022) resurrects the scene in Making Braids(c.a. 1902–05)—a historical photograph showing four figures dressed in cheongsam, each braiding the iconic Manchu queue for the person in front, while Bury in Twilight II draws inspiration from Two Men on an Opium Bed (c.a. 1902–05) in which two men are seen smoking opium, spiritless and dazed, recalling the havoc wreaked by The Opium Wars in the late Qing Dynasty. Under Zhong’s depiction, certain definitive contours of the figures are softened or distorted to blur the boundary between the foreground and the background, evoking characters recalled or imagined.

Gallery address: Address: 202, The Factory, 1 Yip Fat Street, Wong Chuk Hang