LONDON.- Amid an age shaped by relentless stimulation and accelerated fragmentation, Grey with a Glimmer turns its attention to the quieter states of perception, to moments where clarity softens and awareness subtly expands. Hosted by Arklink at Indra Gallery in London from November the 7th to the 10th, 2025, the exhibition assembles 38 emerging artists whose practices span painting, moving image, installation, photography, sculpture, and artist books. Together, their works trace how contemporary life shifts continuously between shadow and glimmer, stillness and emergence, illusion and reflection. Curated by Chengming Xing and Yiwen Fu, the exhibition welcomed more than two hundred guests on its opening night, transforming the gallery into a site of collective sensing and exchange.
From left to right: Un-rotted bloom (2025) — Xuya Wu. Showering with my eyes closed in the dark (2022); When teeth turn to shards (2022) — Matvei Matveev. Qu’ai-je fait? / What have I done? (2025) — Xuran Guo. Untitled (2025); Screaming butterfly (2022) — Matvei Matveev. Street food archive (2025) — Yucheng Kang. Beasts; They; Spikes of refusals (2025) — Hance Yu. Ever onward (2025) — Zongzheng Huang. My skin is made up of shadows (2023) — Gabriella Diedloff. Where we used to live (2025) — Min Pyun.
Grey has come to define the atmospheric condition of modern life — a muted spectrum that echoes numbed senses and suspended forms of living. Yet even within this subdued landscape, light occasionally breaks through. Rather than promising salvation, this kind of illumination aligns with Walter Benjamin’s notion of Jetztzeit — an instant where linear time is momentarily disrupted, allowing meaning to sharpen and viewpoints to shift. It is from this dynamic tension between concealment and revelation that Grey with a Glimmer emerges.
From left to right: TAI (2025) — Zhuosi Shao. The paths we take (2025) — Isabella Chiara Vicco. HABITAT (2025) — Junya Duan. The absolute Sins (2025) — Stephen Liu. Beasts; They; Spikes of refusals (2025) — Hance Yu. The mute fish (2025) — Xuran Guo. Mr. Tree No.9 (2025) — Chao Yang. It (2018) — Yao Yao. Sanctuary (2025) — Jiasheng Mai. No gazing (2025); I know you well (2025) — Xiaoxiao Song. Solitude in the shifting grove 1 & 2 (2025) — Xiwen Xu. Minute by minute (2024) — Wenxiao Lin. Silver & Aluminum (2024) — Yuze Pan. The pillow is no longer a place for singular dreaming (2025) — Darcy Inman. Good night, until we meet again (2025); Aftereffect of disillusion (2022) — Nare Joo. Unveil (2025) — Xuya Wu. Too much love (2023) — Min Pyun.
Here, grey is approached not as void but as a productive field — a zone where outlines soften, categories dissolve, and identity emerges through continuous negotiation. Light operates differently: not as clarity but as interruption, a brief reorientation rather than a solution. This interplay informs the spatial and conceptual flow of the exhibition. As audiences progress through the rooms, each stage resonates with a philosophical reflection: history as a charged present; identity as an ongoing performance; grey as a threshold that enables new possibilities; and the glimmer as a subtle yet transformative shift in perception. The curatorial design follows this sequence, inviting visitors into a layered movement across suspension, emergence, illusion, and reflection.
From left to right: Cinema L’INFERNO (2024–2025) — Stephen Liu. Verdant pulse Chapter 1 & 3 (2024) — Jiayu Li. Anatomy of a belief (2025) — Yu Yu. Ever onward (2025) — Zongzheng Huang. My skin is made up of shadows (2023) — Gabriella Diedloff. Stone shadows transcendence (2025) — Dorrothyyyer. DESIRE (2025) — Darcy Inman. Canopy (2025); Permeation (2025) — Yiling Cao. Back to 2004 (2025) — Angela Yan.
The full list of participating artists — Angela Yan, Chao Yang, Darcy Inman, Dorrothyyyer, Gabriella Diedloff, Haoyuan Huang, Hance Yu, Hongru Zhang, Isabella Chiara Vicco, Jiasheng Mai, Jiayu Li, Jingjing Xu, Junya Duan, Matvei Matveev, Min Pyun, Nare Joo, Nuo Xu, Qishan Li, Ruoxi Zhang, Shangda Li, Shifan Xue, Stephen Liu, Wenwen Deng, Wenxiao Lin, Xiaoxiao Song, Xiwen Xu, Xuran Guo, Xuya Wu, Yang Xiao, Yao Yao, Yiling Cao, Yu Yu, Yucheng Kang, Yuhang Zhao, Yuze Pan, Ziyuan Wang, Zongzheng Huang, and Zhuosi Shao — reflect a generation negotiating multiplicity and fragmentation. Their contributions do not strive for definitive conclusions; instead, they remain grounded in the transitional spaces of experience. Across varied media, each work contributes to a shared field of nuance, where stillness can vibrate and even the faintest interruption carries transformative potential.
From left to right: Are you Narcissus (2025) — Shangda Li. The mute fish (2025) — Xuran Guo. Growth I & II (2025) — Hongru Zhang. Mr. Tree No.9 (2025) — Chao Yang. Hallway (2025) — Yang Xiao. Green world 1 & 7 (2025) — Haoyuan Huang. Viewing time through objects (2025) — Shifan Xue. The unseen the unheard (2025) — Ziyuan Wang. It (2018) — Yao Yao. Sanctuary (2025) — Jiasheng Mai. No gazing (2025); I know you well (2025) — Xiaoxiao Song. Solitude in the shifting grove 1 & 2 (2025) — Xiwen Xu. Minute by minute (2024) — Wenxiao Lin. Silver & Aluminum (2024) — Yuze Pan. The pillow is no longer a place for singular dreaming (2025) — Darcy Inman. Good night, until we meet again (2025); Aftereffect of disillusion (2022) — Nare Joo.
From left to right: Canopy (2025); Permeation (2025) — Yiling Cao. Back to 2004 (2025) — Angela Yan. I don’t aspire to triumph over this world (2022) — Yuhang Zhao. TAI (2025) — Zhuosi Shao. The paths we take (2025) — Isabella Chiara Vicco. HABITAT (2025) — Junya Duan.
From left to right: Unveil (2025) — Xuya Wu. Too much love (2023) — Min Pyun. Remembering a tree (2024) — Qishan Li. Kill all the butterflies to prevent a tornado (2025) — Wenwen Deng. Conversation of silence (2025) — Ruoxi Zhang. Flat Blues (2025) — Nuo Xu.
The curators describe their approach as consciously “anti-polish,” rejecting the spectacle-driven expectations that often dominate the contemporary art scene. Instead, the exhibition foregrounds vulnerability, incompletion, and the provisional — the fragile moments where meaning first flickers before taking shape. In this sense, Grey with a Glimmer does not offer definitive answers but asks a more subtle question: how might we inhabit uncertainty and navigate the shifting terrain between what is visible and what remains unresolved?
The 2100-square-foot Indra Gallery, with its adaptable lighting and expansive open plan, deepens this curatorial intent. The fluid spatial arrangement invites visitors to move at their own pace between immersive media, suspended forms, and intimate painterly surfaces. The architecture functions not merely as backdrop but as an active component of the exhibition’s pacing — a choreography of movement, halt, and return.
From left to right: Where we used to live (2025) — Min Pyun. Sisyphus (2025) — Jingjing Xu. Are you Narcissus (2025) — Shangda Li. The mute fish (2025) — Xuran Guo. Growth I & II (2025) — Hongru Zhang. Mr. Tree No.9 (2025) — Chao Yang. Hallway (2025) — Yang Xiao.
Founded in London with the support of the LAN Art Fund, Arklink is an independent organization committed to fostering cross-cultural artistic exchange. Comprising curators and artists with extensive international experience, Arklink has organized projects across London, Madrid, Chicago, Hong Kong, and Beijing, while sustaining collaborations with institutions such as Sotheby’s, DaQian Gallery, and UCCA. Through exhibitions, residencies, and publications, Arklink cultivates platforms for emerging practitioners and expands conversations across artistic and cultural practices.
Ultimately, Grey with a Glimmer privileges reflection over spectacle. Light never entirely settles, just as grey never wholly recedes. Between them lies a perceptual threshold — a space to pause, to sense, and to register the quiet shimmer of meaning. Within this subtle interval, we encounter not only the artworks but a renewed awareness of presence itself.
