Michael Gao: Exhibit – Mandy Zhang Art
This autumn, Mandy Zhang Art presents Salt Land, a new solo exhibition by London-based artist Michael Gao, exploring solitude, escape and the uneasy beauty of being alone.
Curated by Joséphine May Bailey, the exhibition brings together 12 new paintings inspired by a short story written by Gao about a boy who leaves a travelling carnival to become a lighthouse keeper.
Rather than illustrating the story directly, the works draw on its atmosphere, with recurring coastlines, lighthouses, sea and stretches of quiet, almost uninhabited landscape.
Human figures are notably absent from the paintings. Instead, dogs appear alone on lighthouse galleries overlooking the sea, creating images that feel both peaceful and slightly unsettling. Gao combines airbrushed acrylic ink with traditional brushwork, building precise, dreamlike scenes that reflect on the line between solitude as refuge and solitude as isolation.
Salt Land runs from 8 October to 14 November 2026 at Mandy Zhang Art and marks Gao’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Find out more here.
Event Details
Address
16 Seymour Place
London
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United Kingdom
