HONG KONG.- Ora-Ora opened a vibrant new solo show by Beijing-based artist Huang Dan. The title is Towards Zero, an allusion to the artist’s mesmerising journey into the heart of minimalism.

Huang Dan’s work is a spirited celebration of the rhythm of life. For the artist, the act of painting becomes a visceral bodily rhythm, as the ebb and flow of breath and the cadence of her emotions imprints a vigorous, bodily rhythm onto the Xuan paper.

The exhibition opened on February 5, 2026. Towards Zero is Ora-Ora’s first show of 2026, which commemorates 20 transformative years since Ora-Ora was founded in Hong Kong. It is also the first show of the forthcoming new year of the horse, associated with energy, independence and dynamism in the Chinese zodiac. Paintings on display are from largely from 2025 and 2026.

Fittingly, Huang Dan has long investigated the horse in her art. For Huang Dan’s brush, the form of the horse is analogous to a landscape. The horse is stable as a mountain, and its eyes are as clear water.

Highlight artworks include several paintings of horses in earthy, orange tones, exuding silent power, strength and tender empathy. Interdependent and Profound (both 2025) pair horses in an eternal rhythm of heartbeats and unity, devoid of unnecessary narrative, whilst Esteem (2025) is a head-on engagement with solitary will.

Towards Zero also presents striking artworks in which rabbits and trees are the central subject. In Gentle Breeze and As you Wish (both 2025), separate rabbits in white and black respectively look left and right, offering alternate directions and profiles. Meanwhile, in Lingering and Waves (both 2025), pine trees, traditionally associated with resilience in Chinese art, compose their own vertically aspiring harmonies. In all of the paintings, as much weight is placed on nothingness as on the subject.

Huang Dan’s search for the rhythm of life is underscored by a belief in the emblematic power of nothingness, which forms a rest in the rhythm she creates. Huang Dan’s use of negative space connects Eastern and Western aesthetics. The emptiness in her compositions is not a passive background, but the field where energy (“qi”) circulates and breathes. The animals she depicts are imbued with serenity, calmness and a sense of wistful emptiness. This aesthetic of ultra minimalism in uniquely Asian in style.

Colours are boldly distilled into vibrant fields, shifting the focus away from gestures and individual brushstrokes. Huang Dan frequently embraces a striking monochrome palette of black and white, alongside deep blues and warm ochre oranges, evoking the essence of dry, elemental landscapes.

Huang Dan engages with ink and paper, a historically rich Chinese medium that dates back to classical times. Yet, her art is an unflinching response to the contemporary human experience, pulsating with emotional currents and a keen perception of the natural order.

In the words of Ora-Ora co-founder and CEO, Henrietta Tsui-Leung, “Huang Dan’s solo show allows us to slow down and appreciate the forms and contours of natural life. For our first exhibition of the new year, the horse takes centre stage, in a show that encourages us to look at the essential rhythms of life.”

This is Huang Dan’s first solo show with Ora-Ora since When You Rise in 2022.

Huang Dan was born in 1979 in Guanxi, China. She graduated with a BA from the Department of Traditional Chinese Painting at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. In 2004, she was awarded an MA from the same institution. She lives and works in Beijing.

Huang Dan is spurred on by an instinct of stripping away extraneity, reducing colours, moods and forms to focus on the essentials. She asserts her bold yet harmonious vision of the past, presenting forward movement from her inspirations rather than a radical schism. Significant and recurring motifs within her works include young children, horses and acrobats, all taking part in a journey “from much, to half, to less... to none.” She continually takes her work in new directions while still on a trajectory towards simplicity.

Recent solo exhibitions with Ora-Ora include Inspirations (2018), Lagom (2020) and When You Rise (2022) and group show Semper Femina (2023). She has shown regularly with Ora-Ora at international art fairs including including Art Basel Hong Kong, Taipei Dangdai and KIAF Seoul.