Elisabeth de Brabant Contemporary
Leng Hong
Paintings by Leng Hong
Presented by Elisabeth de Brabant Contemporary
at the University Club of Montreal
In support of Women Without Borders
Catalogue of the exhibition ‘Into the Mist’ by Leng Hong, Montreal
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To mark the first exhibition of his work in Montreal, Leng Hong has created nine new paintings.
This presentation echoes Au Cœur de la Brume, shown simultaneously at Elisabeth de Brabant Contemporary in Venice, Italy. There, the artist’s works enter into dialogue with the city of water—shaped by tides, reflection, and centuries of intercontinental exchange. The exhibition captures the elusive essence of mist: an element that both veils and reveals, an atmosphere that softens perception.
With Into the Mist – Chapter II, the mysteries of water link China and Canada—passing through the rice fields of Leng Hong’s youth, the lagoons of Venice, and the estuary of the Saint Lawrence River. As the exhibition lands within the historic interiors of the University Club of Montreal, it preserves the intimate rhythm of its Venetian curation.
Leng Hong draws from the spirit of Tang Dynasty poetry (7th–9th century), not to illustrate its verses but to inhabit its atmosphere. His images drift between architectural remnants, human presence, and imagined landscape—forming a liminal space where history and legend coexist without resolution. Here, painting becomes a threshold: not a window onto the world, but a passage toward another one.
“Born in China in 1955, my father has distilled 45 years of artistic exploration into a singular exhibition of ethereal landscapes drawn from ancient poetry—where mist fades to reveal women with skin as pale as the moon, and the gates of a water city that beckon us to enter.”
— Qin Leng, author
“Leng Hong uses symbolic, semi-abstract scenes to interrupt the viewer’s impulse to recognize reality… allowing them instead to listen to the sound of the painting.”
— Shi Zhongping, Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts
