10 Chancery Lane Gallery is pleased to present Sea of silver sand, a solo exhibition by pioneering Chinese contemporary artist Huang Rui, on view from May 22 to August 16, 2025. This exhibition showcases Huang Rui’s latest works from his ongoing Sea of Silver Sand series, a deeply meditative body of paintings inspired by his long-standing fascination with Zen gardens and the transient beauty of nature. The exhibition will coincide with The French May in Hong Kong, marking a significant moment as the artist will be present to attend the opening.

The Sea of silver sand series, conceived over the past five years, finds its origins in an initiatory journey Huang Rui undertook in 2000, when he visited Kyoto’s Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) and its famed Zen rock garden. This experience left an indelible mark on the artist’s spiritual and artistic practice, shaping his continued exploration of nature’s fleeting yet eternal presence.

Since 2019, Huang Rui has expanded this series, moving away from rigid abstraction to embrace a freer, more expressive visual language. His canvases evoke the shifting light, textures, and moods of the Sea of silver sand, where subtle shades of blue reflect both the materiality of the landscape and the inner states of the artist’s mind. The interplay of color and form mirrors Huang Rui’s evolving emotional and spiritual connection to this profound space, which he describes as a place of sand and stone, waves and rivers, moonlight and stars—a landscape in constant transformation.

“Stone gardens evoke endless interpretations—they could be the poems of Li Bai and Su Dongpo, or the lines of Shakespeare’s plays,” says Huang Rui. “The Sea of silver sand holds a singular structural relationship: the moon and the undisturbed ripples of the sand. It is a dialogue of form. After years of contemplation, I have finally found a way to converse with it through painting.”

Huang Rui’s years in Japan (1984–2001) allowed him to further refine his artistic philosophy, embracing Zen aesthetics and the idea of art as a medium of transcendence. With Sea of Silver Sand, he continues this lifelong dialogue, offering viewers an immersive reflection on time, memory, and the essence of nature.

Huang Rui, a founding member of The Stars Art Group (Xing Xing), one of China's most influential avant-garde movements, has long been at the forefront of artistic and intellectual exploration. This exhibition also serves as a celebration of the recent retrospective group exhibition, Freedom of art, the stars, Beijing, 1979 at Centre Pompidou in Paris (December 4, 2024 – March 10, 2025). Huang Rui's early oil paintings, including The guitar’s story and Courtyard abstraction no.1, are now part of the permanent collection at Centre Pompidou, underscoring his enduring artistic legacy.