White Cube Hong Kong presents ‘When the Surface Thinks’, a solo exhibition by Paris-based Chinese artist Yunyao Zhang (b. 1985, Shanghai). With this new body of work, the artist contends that meaning can reside within a surface – proposing painting as a sentient field that registers, reflects and thinks.

The exhibition presents large-scale, illusionistic abstractions from Zhang’s ‘Connector’ series (2022–present), tight close-ups of carved heads from the ‘Time’ series (2021–present), and studies of classical statuary. These works subvert the traditions of Soviet Realism and the French Beaux-Arts that informed Zhang’s early academic training.

Central to the artist’s practice is his use of graphite on felt, a material that is both light-absorbent and resistant to revision. Unlike oil on canvas, which allows for overpainting and correction, graphite becomes embedded into the textured plane. Through a sustained and highly physical process, Zhang builds tonal depth across the textile’s flatness, creating images that appear at once sculptural and weightless.