Pengfei Zai’s paintings are constructed through a spatial order that closely resembles architectural thinking. Within the canvas, he builds highly structured environments composed of arches, columns, curtains, and geometric arrangements. These elements do not depict natural scenes; rather, they function like distilled spatial models, carrying a strong sense of rational construction.
Installation view of 120 Days of Sodom, Jan. 10, 2026 - Mar. 8, 2026, Nan Ke Gallery, Shanghai, ©Courtesy of Nan Ke Gallery, Photographed by Runxin.
Architectural forms are often organized into spaces that resemble stages or ritual settings. Repeated arches, enclosing columns, and cascading curtains create the impression of a precisely designed environment. Objects such as fountains, ropes, and sequences of circular forms are placed along the central axis of the composition, establishing the visual order of the space. They appear simultaneously as functional devices and symbolic presences, allowing a subtle narrative to emerge within the rational structure.
Pengfei Zai’s pictorial language maintains a calm and restrained atmosphere. Grid-like textures spread across walls and columns, rendering the architecture both solid and abstract, almost like a simplified classical model. At the same time, isolated objects—curving tubular forms, suspended lines, or vertical sequences of discs—stand out sharply within this controlled environment, suggesting a logic that remains partially concealed.
Pengfei Zai
Motion Sickness Pills 40.0，2024
Charcoal and acrylic on paper
100h x 140w cm
©Courtesy of the artist
Within this tightly organized structure, the paintings gradually acquire a philosophical dimension. Space, object, and structure cease to function merely as visual motifs and instead operate as a mode of reflection on order and existence. Through a deliberately restrained visual language, Pengfei Zai directs the viewer toward a quiet and sustained mode of perception, where rational stability coexists with an underlying tension that cannot be fully resolved.
March 19, 2026