Revisiting Surrealism and its enduring influence on contemporary artists, The Light Burns the Reality, a dual exhibition of emerging artists Qian Qian and Christian Quin Newell, in China, echoes the words of Cecilia Alemani, artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale: “The Surrealist artist describes a magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination. It is a world where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else; a world set free, brimming with possibilities. But it is also the allegory of a century that imposed intolerable pressure on the very definition of the self…”

The Light Burns the Reality brings together Qian Qian and Christian Quin Newell, two emerging artists whose distinct practices both channel surrealist sensibilities. Through imagery and compositions that unsettle logic, they respond to an age in which imagination and reality are inseparably entangled, opening a conversation between reason and emotion.

Quin Newell’s new series of paintings depict resolute self-governing figures on heroic quests, deciphering the visual codes that engulf his fantasies. He’s an artist to watch.

The show remains on view at The Sixi Museum, Nanjing, until October 26, 2025.

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Image: Christian Quin Newell, Hopeful sign, 2025 (detail)