Xinyi Cheng’s paintings begin with her own observations, whether an interaction she witnessed or an image from a film that lingered in her mind. Her subjects, which often include strangers, friends, animals, or commonplace objects, convey a wide range of emotions and sensations including intimacy, alienation, peacefulness, or unease. Equally wide-ranging are the reference points in her work, which include Japanese woodblock prints, a painting by Tiepolo, and a telephone seen hanging in a hallway of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In Cheng’s words, “My paintings are about different aspects of desire and human relationships. I paint situations that are based on my memories or imagination.”

Xinyi Cheng (b. 1989, Wuhan, China) lives and works in Paris. Her work has been the subject of solo museum exhibitions at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, and Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, and included in numerous group exhibitions, among them, the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; the Renaissance Society, Chicago; the 13th Shanghai Biennale; and the Bourse de Commerce, Paris.