30/08/2026
Red Gate Gallery is proud to present Seamless: Phénix Varbanov's Theatre of Xuan Paper, with Xiao Huang serving as the curator and Mimi Ding as the academic curator. The exhibition will run from September 5 to October 4, 2026.
Seamless is not a negation of the physical act, but an overflow that exceeds the conceptual boundaries of "folding." In Phénix Varbanov's practice, folding is but a point of departure—a pressure exerted upon the fibers of Xuan paper, a compression of the threefold geo-memories of Sofia, Paris, and Beijing—whereas the "Non" signifies becoming: the structure that interstices of layered paper, and establishing a charged, explosive "in-between" field amid the tensions of East and West. Marking Red Gate Gallery's 35th anniversary, this "Theatre of Xuan Paper" presents Varbanov's latest inquiry into "structure as body." It refuses to reduce ink to an exotic "Oriental curiosity," nor does it allow abstraction to devolve into mere decorative style. Here, Xuan paper is no longer a passive medium that merely bears the brush, but an actively breathing theatre; folding is no longer a terminal trace, but the prelude to rebirth. What confronts the viewer is not an exhibition about folding, but a visual universe set in motion by folding and ultimately transcending it—embodying, as the artist's French name Phénix suggests, the reconstruction of a new order from ashes and fissures.
Seamless
Phénix Varbanov's Theatre of Xuan Paper
非折叠——宋小松的纸本剧场
Curator 策展人
Xiao Huang 萧煌
Academic Curator 学术主持
Mimi Ding 丁韵秋
Exhibition Dates 展览时间
September 5 - October 4, 2026
Opening 开幕
3 - 5 pm (Saturday), September 5, 2026
