Brighter than White, Darker than Blue

Critical Review by Anna Gvozdeva

Staged at Fitzrovia Gallery in London and co-curated by Hongqian Zhang and Huan Zhou (ArtFlow Studio), Brighter than White, Darker than Blue succeeds in creating an immersive cosmology of cobalt blue. The exhibition is not simply a display of ceramic mastery; it is an orchestrated rhythm where objects, space, and atmosphere are choreographed to speak in unison.

Curatorial Rhythm

The show unfolds in three movements — Sequence, Flowers, and Hidden Rhythms / Enigmatic Shadows — each occupying a distinct emotional register. The progression from structured geometries to floral gestures, and finally into the psychological interiority of masks and organic forms, mirrors a musical crescendo followed by a pause. The curators’ decision to situate porcelain works in translucent, white-dominated displays against desaturated blue walls enhances the sense that these objects float, suspended between tradition and contemporaneity.

Atmosphere and Spatial Poetics

The gallery becomes a space of silence and resonance. Small framed works punctuate the walls like fragments of memory, while the central pedestals showcase porcelain plates, vessels, and masks as though they were constellations in a cobalt universe. The window installation — with oversized floral motifs and layered porcelain objects — creates an immediate dialogue with the street outside, extending the exhibition into the urban landscape. What could easily have become a didactic homage to Jingdezhen instead feels dynamic, alive, and deeply contemplative.

A Global Reframing of Porcelain

The exhibition’s achievement lies in how it reframes blue-and-white porcelain from decorative tradition to conceptual art form. By presenting Cheng’s works as vessels of rhythm, memory, and identity, ArtFlow Studio situates ceramics within the discourse of contemporary art rather than craft alone. It is a show that makes silence visible, fragility powerful, and porcelain — often considered static — vibrantly alive.