FQ Projects' new exhibition Unseen Mist, which runs through September 10, tells a tale of femininity and subtlety by bringing together paintings from Shi Yan and Mo Di.

Both artists were born in 1987 in Guangdong, and continue to live and paint in the southern province. They possess a sensibility that enables them to express what are often ungraspable, transient inner feelings.

It is hard to resist the temptation to linger in the first floor of the exhibition, where Shi's watercolor and color pencil works created in 2014 and 2015 imbue seemingly everyday subjects and scenes with a mystic poeticism.

 

Impersonal touch

Shi renders daily items at once realistic and imaginative. Pencil and colored pencil works include Textile, which revolves around a two-color scarf - the softly drawn texture appears tactile, and it is knotted in a way that resembles the head and ears of a rabbit.

For one of her watercolor works, she studied an upright white cabbage and drew the outlines of the leaves in a beautiful, petal-like form, naming it - quite correctly so - Could Be Flower. Meanwhile, a prone green vegetable that resembles waves or clouds is the subject of her work Floating.

"It shows the artist's great love for the world, as she delivers a sympathy for everything," Li Feiqing, the founder of FQ Projects, told the Global Times.

Shen Wence, the gallery's assistant, said Shi has enough discipline to take her time in her observations, often looking for minute details in order to capture every object's unique appeal.

"Her observation is careful, yet sharp," Shen said. "She deals with each subject as if it has a life and a world of its own."



Ambiguity of dreams

The title of the exhibition seems particularly fitting for Shi's scenery works, as most of them are somewhat blurry and misty, especially around the edges of the objects they depict.

 This ambiguity renders the Un-faded Dream series a more authentic representation of their subject matter - Shi's dreams. She has a habit of visually recording the remaining impressions of her dreams after waking up as a way of continuous analysis.

Reality's colors are diluted under her brushstrokes. The pictures become, almost without exception, a combination of white and (considerably more so) different shades of grey. This makes the extremely rare appearance of color in the works peculiar.

Two yellow, abstract flowers in The Yellow Wind Bell in March and the light pink beak and feet of a bird in one of the Un-faded Dream series, understated as they are, stand out through their warmth and tenderness.



Dynamic loneliness

Loneliness, Shen pointed out, is an underlying theme in Shi's works. It's actually the title of one watercolor on paper, which features a lone pot of plants on a wooden panel that seems to be unsupported.

The vibe is also palpable in Shi's most abstract exhibit The 4 am Mist. The mist in the painting can also be taken for piece of a coral or a dozen cigarette sticks joined at the bottom.

"The secret of Shi's works lies in the way she deals with loneliness - she accepts it," Shen said. "Her loneliness is light, and distinctive from what one would call melancholy or sadness."

Shi is also remarkable for expressing dynamism in a still picture - she is able to look beyond a moment and depict a process, an evolution.

For example The Fading Pink, a watercolor piece of a light pink fish, invites one to gaze at the pinkness that not only disappears by the end of the fin or tail, but also seems to slowly vanish from sight completely.

Artworks by Shi Yan and Mo Di on display at FQ Projects Photos: Courtesy of the venue

Open diary

Unlike Shi, who began to study painting on her own in 2006, Mo Di went through strict art education and received a master's degree in oil painting from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

Occupying the second floor of the exhibition are Mo's small ink wash paintings, which are sometimes drafts of her oil paintings, but more often record her fleeting feelings and emotions.

They have a personal, semi-childlike charm - one might compare them to illustrations sketched in a diary. They are condensed versions of stories.

"Ink wash is pure, natural and fluid, making it easier to present flashes of sudden thoughts and feelings," Mo said.

Reportedly a very jolly and spirited person, Mo documents her states of solitude, frustration and loss in these pieces.

And she does so with subtlety - a small pond under rain, or a girl standing by the shore under a giant tree that's bent at a ridiculous angle.

Even in a piece titled Soulmate, the two subjects running down a path together seem to be distant and hesitant rather than intimate.

She often hand-types a sentence or a phrase to complement the pictures and deliver their theme more directly. For example, the painting of several swimmers above water asks "what are you looking for?" while a nighttime forest dotted with sparkling stars reads "accept that you're absolutely alone."

But Mo pointed out that these works actually stem out of a need for brightness and positivity. "However, that can only be reached by passing through darkness," Mo said. "As I turn my back on the fear over past years, darkness is left behind and bright light greets me."

Date: Until September 10, 11 am to 7 pm (closed Mondays)

Venue: FQ Projects

Address: No.76, Lane 927 Huaihai Road Middle 淮海中路927弄76号

Admission: Free

Call 6466-2940 for details