——Dust rises and settles, nature as the heart
ShanghaiApril 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On April 25, 2026, Shanghai XITANG Art Space launched a dual solo exhibition, “Hidden World.” French-based Chinese artist Shan Weijun and fourth-generation inheritor of Shanghai-style inkstone carving Ding Weiming use two Eastern mediums—ink painting and stone carving—to respond to a shared proposition: How to find an appropriate way to coexist with oneself and the world in a noisy era. The exhibition runs until June 5, 2026.
XITANG Founder and Curator Sun Xinxi, Artist Ding Weiming, Artist Shan Weijun
When artistic expression increasingly leans toward the direct and intense, can we still find another possibility—
A slower, more restrained mode of expression that gradually reveals depth and boundaries through the sedimentation of time?
XITANG’s new exhibition, “Hidden World,” is born from precisely this reflection.
Curator Sun Xinxi selected Shan Weijun and Ding Weiming, seeing in them an inner order deeply rooted in Eastern culture—a tranquility settled after experiencing a complete arc of time. Their works lack urgency or outcry, yet carry a calm that comes from experience. This is especially rare today.
Shan Weijun: The Order of Ink, The Breath of Light
To experience Shan Weijun’s paintings, one must stand before them to feel the traces of time—a breathing quality built from countless ink dots. The images resemble landscapes, yet are not landscapes; they evoke jungles or wilderness, but ultimately reflect the viewer’s own state of mind. This mirrors the traditional Chinese progression: “See mountains as mountains, see mountains not as mountains, see mountains as mountains again”—not a reproduction of nature, but a re-understanding after time.
Born in 1962 in Changzhou, Jiangsu, Shan Weijun now lives and works in Paris. This French-based Chinese artist hones his craft with the discipline of a Chinese hermit, presenting works that embody “clarity of intention and transparency of brushwork” under a “pseudo-ink quality.” He insists on traditional painting tools, creating with meditative focus, endowing his works with a cool, rational visual experience.
At XITANG’s “Hidden World” exhibition, Shan Weijun presents series including “Blossoms,” “Individual Garden,” “Within and Beyond,” and his latest, “Clear Resonance.” In “Clear Resonance,” he uses the olive tree—a symbol of “peace”—as an image, yet subtly structures it to suggest the tension of a mushroom cloud: calm and unease juxtaposed, complex emotions pressed within the order of ink. This restraint is itself an attitude. Covering, layering, erasing and redoing, watermarks dissolve boundaries, and extreme lightness gives birth to light. Viewers, in slow contemplation, draw closer to the canvas and hear their own breath.
Shan Weijun’s art continues to resonate on the international stage, having been exhibited at contemporary art shows in Paris and Bordeaux, Art Basel Hong Kong, and Shanghai 021 Art Fair, with growing acclaim in Asian markets in recent years. His works are collected by French museums, institutions, and private collectors (from Europe, the Americas, and Asia).
Ding Weiming: Releasing the Stone, Settling the Self
Ding Weiming confronts the most silent of materials. He observes a stone for a long time, understands its structure, and then uses minimal intervention to let the form reveal itself. The artist’s “self” is continuously set aside, making nature the true subject. This approach of learning from nature is exceedingly rare today.
Born in 1957 in Shanghai, Ding Weiming is the fourth-generation core inheritor of Shanghai-style inkstone carving and a Master of Shanghai Arts and Crafts. He adheres to the principles of “following the flow and the form,” advocating “carving to the minimum,” capturing the essence with just a few strokes.
At XITANG’s “Hidden World” exhibition, Ding Weiming’s works are underpinned by a simple yet profound question: In this life, with whom are we truly sitting together? Between people, between cultures, the choices themselves constitute our circumstances.
Ding Weiming fuses Eastern negative space, Zen philosophy, and contemporary sculptural language. Behind the form lies the realm—within the stone, one hears the sound of mountains and streams; within the stone, one sees the bright moon and clear breeze; within the stone, one realizes that an empty heart is Buddha. His works are collected by the Thai royal family; “Sleeping Goose Inkstone” was named one of the “First Batch of Shanghai Arts and Crafts Masterpieces,” and “Peach Pit Inkstone” is collected by the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Museum.
The Deeper Meaning of “Hidden World”
The name “Hidden World,” in curator Sun Xinxi’s view, is not about escape. The Eastern concept of “hiding” has never been about withdrawing from worldly affairs, but rather, after seeing clearly, choosing a more fitting way to engage with the world. Shan Weijun and Ding Weiming do not evade this era, nor are they swept away by its pace. They gently place time, nature, and emotion into their works, letting everything unfold on its own.
What XITANG calls “balance” is about finding an appropriate position between time, nature, and emotion. “Hidden World” is an attempt to discover a mutually nurturing relationship between the contemporary and the traditional.
Today, such creation is rare. It does not pursue immediate emotion or offer clear answers, but it lingers after you leave. This slowness is the power XITANG believes in more deeply.
Exhibition Information
“Hidden World” — Shan Weijun & Ding Weiming Dual Solo Exhibition
Curator: Sun Xinxi
Duration: April 25, 2026 – June 5, 2026
Venue: XITANG Art Space
