On Wednesday, October 29th, Hua Gallery will open an exhibition of all new work from rising talent, Chang Lei. This is the artist’s first ever show in London.

In Tainted Beauty, Chang presents a collection of his most recent work evoking the splendor and sadness encapsulated in Beijing’s famed operatic tradition, and indeed China’s cultural history as a whole. Alongside fictional characters are also images of the Great Wall and Chinese ceramics, terracotta warriors, deities, and historical icons.

Through stark contrasts between sombre background tones and glowing highlights of the subjects Chang Lei’s paintings delve into the history of China. The artist attempts to analyse its cultural richness from a thorough critical perspective. His paintings evoke both positive and negative events that have marked the course of the centuries, aiming to achieve ‘the truth’. In this sense, Chang is searching for the beauty of truth. His female figures are not only charming icons of the Beijing opera but also allegories on Keats’ romantic ideal of “beauty is truth and truth is beauty”. - Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli