CHEN HONGZHI I PARIS CULTURAL SPACE

Artwork with a group of people standing on a colorful, abstract landscape with pink and blue hues.

WHERE ARE WE?

EXHIBITION I MARCH 18 – MAY 20, 2026

The ICICLE Cultural Space opens a new artistic season in Paris with WHERE ARE WE?, the first European solo exhibition of Chen Hongzhi, who has emerged in recent years as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Chinese art.

Bringing together a selection of oil paintings on canvas created between 2013 and 2024, including several large-scale pieces, the exhibition reveals a body of work of striking intensity. Pink, red, and orange beams cut across anonymous crowds, solitary figures and uncertain terrain, intensifying their strangeness.

‘Chen Hongzhi’s painting is permeated by an acute awareness of human vulnerability and contemporary disorientation, yet it never yields to urgency or immediate commentary. It establishes a contemplative remove sustained by silent compassion. Between lucidity about the present and the wisdom of distance, between existential anxiety and inner restraint, his painting, without outcry or rebellion, poses essential questions: where are we when our bearings begin to shift? And beyond any historical circumstance, where does humanity stand?’

Myriam Kryger, curator of the exhibition

ICICLE CULTURAL SPACE I PARIS
35 AVENUE GEORGE V, PARIS 8
MONDAY TO SATURDAY, 11 AM – 7 PM

CHEN HONGZHI

Born in 1979 in Xianyou (China), he lives and works in Shanghai.

Originally from a rural region of Fujian in southeastern China, Chen Hongzhi grew up on the boundary of two worlds: countryside and city, vernacular culture and literati tradition. This dual heritage has left a lasting imprint on his work. From an early age, drawing was an obvious vocation. A precocious talent, he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts at Fujian Normal University at the age of sixteen. After graduating from the Department of Oil Painting, he began teaching there at nineteen, balancing artistic practice with academic responsibilities. In 2012, he moved to Beijing to devote himself fully to his artistic work before settling in Shanghai in 2025.

Chen Hongzhi has held major solo exhibitions in several Chinese museums, notably at the Today Art Museum in Beijing and the Duolun Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai. Leo Gallery and Holy Oriental Art Gallery regularly present his work in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. He has also participated in significant group exhibitions in Asia and the United States.

Abstract painting on a white wall in a gallery setting

Where are we?, ICICLE Cultural Space in Paris

Abstract art piece with pink and purple hues

River of Forgetting #1, 2020, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm. © Chen Hongzhi

Abstract art piece with red and orange hues on a white background

Non-Place #5, 2020, oil on canvas, 120 x 150 cm. © Chen Hongzhi

Abstract paintings on a white wall in a gallery setting

Where are we?, ICICLE Cultural Space in Paris

Painting of a series of men depicted from the back

Where are we?, ICICLE Cultural Space in Paris

Abstract artwork with orange and purple hues

PARIS CULTURAL SPACE

ICICLE opened a cultural space in Paris in 2019, dedicated to creating opportunities for exchange and discovery. Guided by a belief in the importance of encounter, the cultural programme fosters dialogue and cross-fertilisation.
On the 3rd floor of the ICICLE store at 35 avenue George V, the ICICLE Cultural Space hosts exhibitions devoted to art and design, and features a uniquely diverse bookshop. Its selection spans materials and images (architecture, painting, art, crafts), words and ideas (philosophy, poetry, literature, history, sinology), and practices and tastes (tea and Tao arts, martial arts and meditation techniques).

2026 CULTURAL SEASON