THE SHOPHOUSE is pleased to present Petrichor, the first solo exhibition in Hong Kong by Chinese artist Dong Xiaochi (b.1993), currently works and lives in London, UK.

Drawing inspiration from artificial landscapes of different scales, including traditional Chinese gardens, botanical gardens, and miniature ecosystems. Dong explores diverse concepts related to simulating, imitating, and compressing nature.

His creative endeavours primarily encompass painting and mixed-media pieces. By creating images saturated with hints of light, humidity and atmosphere, Dong aims to give forms to contemporary images of nature. The influence of Chinese painting on Dong Xiaochi’s artwork is prevalent in his technique as well as the subject. In Petrichor, cloud motifs, bamboos and leaves, subjects with strong connotations of myths and symbols from Chinese culture are translated into nebulous and vague imagery. Like nature, Dong’s paintings present in constant flux and cease to settle in a definite form. The delicate ink brushstroke disperses through the surface, while upholding blank space to depict the stillness in the surrounding.

In front of the viewers, are trees and mountains whose forms blend with abstract ones in such a way that namable phenomena merge into abstract ones, thus opening up to the imagination.