Ronchini is proud to present LightForms, a duo exhibition featuring works by the American artist Hap Tivey, and the Chinese artist Gu Xiaoping, bringing the two artists together for the first time. Their distinctive practices, which together, break generational and geographical boundaries, are both grounded in formal concerns of light, colour, and structure.

Xiaoping’s minimalist works are rooted in traditional Chinese techniques, including the use of Modou (墨斗), a traditional Chinese ink measuring tool, and meditative repetition in mark-making that delineates his synergy with Eastern philosophy. The work of the artist’s hand and his masterful use of colour results in meditative pieces that mirror the precision of modern technology, while revealing, upon closer inspection, the inimitable trace of human touch. With Sisyphean patience and exceptional technical mastery, Xiaoping’s works are a quiet, yet powerful reflection on China’s transformation and offer the viewer a moment of collective contemplation and subjective reflection.

Often considered a forefather of Los Angeles light artists, Hap Tivey has been working with light and space since the 1970s, and has collaborated with artists such as James Turrell. Tivey views light as a subjective experience rather than objective art, and practicing as a Zen monk in Kyoto, Japan further informed his artistic practice, imbuing them with zen qualities, and mediative auras. Featuring historic Tivey works from the 1970s alongside new works from 2026, allows viewers to experience the development of the artist’s practice and his sustained investigation into light in all of its forms.

These two artists’ works are both informed by Eastern philosophies and experiential minimalism. Bringing their works together offers viewers a place where elemental forms and dynamic colour can be fully experienced, both subjectively and metaphysically. The light of their works form a quiet field of perception in which light through colour and space becomes both medium and experience.