ZHAN Art Space

15/08/2026

This work investigates the narrative power of the halfway point. A partially open cabinet door is neither fully welcoming nor completely restrictive, leaving the interior tantalisingly out of reach. It challenges the viewer’s desire for closure yet leaving the viewer is suspended in an incomplete narrative.

Artist: qianwen
Title: Fragments
Size: 159 x 80cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

14/08/2026

Art fairs are often associated with established names and seasoned collectors, but ART KL looks in a different direction. The inaugural contemporary art platform will spotlight emerging Southeast Asian artists, creating a space for younger voices and fresh perspectives to take centre stage.

Making its inaugural debut at APW in Bangsar from 15th to 18th October, ART KL is a new contemporary art platform.

14/08/2026

A study of proximity without connection, an investigation of the forced intimacy in an elevator. Within the vertical transit space, individuals on entirely different planes are momentarily suspended together in time and space. Denied the escape of external scenery or phones, they are forced into a quiet confrontation with the presence of the other. The work captures this unintentional gaze, revealing how observation becomes an inevitable, natural consequence of shared confinement.

Artist: qianwen
Title: Shared Silence
Size: 150 x 115cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

13/08/2026

The inaugural event, spotlighting artists born after 1990 and bringing together regional galleries and emerging practitioners to reflect the creative currents shaping a new generation.

With its regional focus and emphasis on emerging talent, ART KL, featuring 10 galleries, aims to foster new connections among artists, institutions and collectors

06/08/2026

Set against the backdrop of a hotel lobby, this work maps the shifting boundaries between public performance and private communication. By positioning a figure on the phone at the intersection of a bustling atrium, a communication hub, and a receding corridor, the composition establishes a physical gradient of privacy. The piece exposes how modern architecture creates liminal zones where openness and seclusion, activity and stillness, seamlessly dissolve into one another.

Artist: qianwen
Title: Public Privacy
Size: 60 x 180cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

05/08/2026

Framed through a hotel room peephole, this work explores the threshold between isolation and observation. The lens serves as both a barrier and a bridge, allowing one to scrutinise the outside world from a position of absolute safety. It examines the modern condition of being simultaneously detached from and connected to the public sphere.

Artist: qianwen
Title: The other side
Size: 50 x 50cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

31/07/2026

Through a restricted line of sight, observation becomes fragmented and incomplete. Denied a complete narrative, the viewer must reconstruct reality from isolated visual clues. The work challenges us to consider how spatial structures manipulate perception, questioning whether our understanding of environments and others is merely an illusion built from partial information.

Artist: qianwen
Title: Between the slats
Size: 50 x 50cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

31/07/2026

Adopting a perspective from within the suitcase, this work frames the luggage as a portable sanctuary and a silent witness to a life in motion. While built to hold personal belongings, the suitcase ultimately preserves the fragile traces of an individual’s identity, accompanying them through spaces of transition, memory, and displacement.

Artist: qianwen
Title: Packed away
Size: 50 x 50cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

31/07/2026

This piece investigates the dual nature of observation within a cinema. Through manipulated spatial perspectives, the artwork positions the gallery viewer behind an audience engrossed in a screen. This configuration creates a layered relationship of looking, where the act of observation is continuously repeated and extended. The work prompts a reassessment of communal spaces, exploring the delicate threshold where we transition from silent observers to the subjects being observed.

Artist: qianwen
Title: The audience
Size: 54 x 69cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026

31/07/2026

Capturing a space of passing encounters, this work explores the passive choreography of transit. Within this environment, occupants do not actively watch one another, yet they remain tethered by a mutual awareness of presence. As the scenery beyond the glass dissolves in perpetual forward motion, the work highlights the fleeting, shared intimacy of strangers moving through time together.

Artist: qianwen
Title: In transit
Size: 42 x 57cm
Material: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026