Feng Xiao-Min, Sailing Through the Light

Opera Gallery New York

22 April - 17 May 2025

Opera Gallery New York is pleased to present 'Sailing Through the Light,' an exhibition showcasing 26 paintings by Paris-based artist Feng Xiao-Min, created between 2009 and 2025. Through these works, Feng Xiao-Min invites viewers on an immersive journey into a world where light and form merge in a poetic interplay of colour and emotion.

Evoking imagery of sailing boats adrift on vast, limitless seas, Feng’s paintings blur the boundaries between sky and water. Glowing orbs of light emerge like guiding beacons, offering solace in a landscape of ever-shifting hues. His canvases create an experience beyond mere observation; they are an invitation to voyage—a moment of pause and reflection in an era overwhelmed by movement and uncertainty.

The Language of Abstraction

In Composition N°26.7.21 (2021), deep midnight blues dominate the canvas, conjuring a tranquil yet mysterious expanse. Two luminous focal points appear in the distance—perhaps lighthouses, perhaps solitary vessels—immersing the viewer in a dreamlike reverie. Likewise, Composition N°6.4.23 (2023) dissolves into warm ochres and deep blues, a fleeting coastline emerging in the fading light, hinting at distant lands both familiar and unknown.

Feng’s artistic language is a seamless confluence of Eastern philosophy and Western abstraction. Drawing inspiration from legendary Qing Dynasty painter Shitao, as well as modern masters like J.M.W. Turner and Zao Wou-Ki, he approaches painting with the precision of a calligrapher, manipulating acrylics as ink flows on paper. The result is a delicate balance between tradition and modernity, a visual dialogue between East and West.

The Artist's journey

The artist’s journey is deeply intertwined with his art. Born in Shanghai in 1959, Feng was shaped by a city that had undergone dramatic transformations—from a pre-revolutionary cultural hub to an era of artistic censorship under the Cultural Revolution. Trained in realism at the Shanghai Fine Art Academy, he later sought artistic liberation in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, where he encountered the works of Western masters and fellow Chinese expatriate artists like Zao Wou-Ki. His experiences in both worlds have resulted in a unique artistic voice—one that neither collides nor contrasts but rather synthesises the traditions of his heritage with the expressive possibilities of contemporary abstraction.

A New Era of Light

Feng’s latest works embrace a new vibrancy, incorporating electric bursts of iridescent light and bold, neon-like contrasts. In Composition N°16.11.24 (2024), a tangerine sky meets an olive-green land in harmonious discord, while Composition N°18.1.25 (2025) conjures a sunrise seascape, its yellow mist and purple depths interwoven with wisps of luminous white. His paintings do not depict inner conflict or external tension but rather a resolution—an invitation to a realm of quietude, where time stands still and the spirit finds peace.

In 'Sailing Through the Light,' Feng Xiao-Min has created a body of work that transcends cultural and artistic boundaries. His compositions offer a sanctuary, a space of harmony and inner wisdom in an ever-chaotic world. In them, we find both nostalgia and renewal—a timeless landscape that beckons us to explore, reflect, and momentarily escape the turbulence of our present age.