SENS Gallery is pleased to announce “Through Timeless Spaces”, a duo exhibition featuring works by Chinese artist Teng Tian and Russian-Italian artist Anzhelika Lebedeva. Running from 15th June to 6th July 2024, the exhibition is a presentation that brings viewers into a tranquil stillness of life. The show will mark both artists’ first time showcasing their talents in Hong Kong.

Unknown figures lurk from the other side of the doorway, standing prominent in the pastel work of Anzhelika Lebedeva. In her blurred interior spaces, carefully centred around open doors and entrances, Lebedeva highlights the concept of presence within emptiness in her Stanze series. Like a shot from a photograph, these figures are omnipresent – although standing eternally still within these confined spaces, their presence is simultaneously dynamic, through the blurry movements as they either move on the spot, or to other directions within their periphery.

Lebedeva’s practice examines individuals and their interactions with the space that surrounds them, presenting a scene where the distinct and the subtle coexist. These realms are born from her preference in utilising soft pastel as a medium – its versatile ability to blend and layer, creates a soft texture on the canvas to emphasise blurred movements and create a sense of warmth and comfort. These qualities of pastel allows Lebedeva’s scenes to integrate both artwork and the observer to a closer understanding.

In Teng Tian’s oil paintings, hands are an oxymoron – suspended in motion, yet they are in movement. In her small scale photorealistic paintings, as part of her Interact series, Teng examines the role of the hand as a form of communication. In its simple nature, it enables us to pose, to touch, to gesticulate – forming actions and reveal feelings that can shape the present and the future. They are the nucleus of Teng’s compositions, identified as a result of her observations on the miniscule characteristics of individuals, spaces, and objects she has interacted with in her life.

Teng’s practice has shifted from meticulous brushwork to bolder strokes, complemented with vibrant colours and a distinct use of light and shadow to create work that reminisces photography. Teng interprets her surroundings with a subtle nuance that distinguishes her paintings from photography, encouraging the viewer to recognise these features to reflect on the nirvana of the everyday life.  

The exhibition ‘Through Timeless Spaces’ is a dialogue between two artists, illustrating the endless presence of life in spaces unbounded by time and space conjured with feelings of solace and comfort. The exhibition brings closer the connection between both artwork and viewer, inviting to see themselves within these spaces to contemplate about the past, the present, and the future.