REFLECTIONS: GONGMO ZHOU

REFLECTIONS presents the fleeting nature of perception, tracing the instant when presence shifts into reflection and begins to fade. Through subtle gradations of blur and clarity, Gongmo Zhou reveals the moment when vision hesitates and memory begins.

Painted across three panels, Glimmer depicts the reflection of a Paris street on a glass door, a scene unfolding not before the door but within it. The city drifts across the surface in layers of blue and grey, as a soft curve of light guides the eye from right to left. On the right, a figure is absorbed in the blue glow of a phone, enclosed in the private light of a screen. At the centre, another walks away, folded into the rhythm of the street. To the left, a flash strikes the face of the photographer, maybe Zhou himself, as he captures the reflection. This rare self-insertion creates a scale of awareness: from distraction to movement to recognition, from being lost in one’s own light to becoming conscious of the surrounding world.

For the viewer passing in front of the painting in Hermannplatz, this moment unfolds in reverse. They encounter the painted reflection of a closed door, its frame forming an optical illusion, its scratches and small peephole suggesting passage and the quiet possibility of being watched back. A subtle reminder to look closer, to notice the world as it unfolds and the beauty held in its details.

The painted door acts as both mirror and threshold, transforming the work into a portal between the underground flow of Berlin and the reflective streets of Paris. As commuters pass by, their reflections drift across the panels, mingling with the painted figures and extending the scene beyond its frame.

In REFLECTIONS, Zhou offers a meditation on awareness, on how vision becomes memory, and how a passing glance can momentarily connect two places, two lights, two worlds. For a brief instant, everyday transit becomes stillness, and the act of passing transforms into the act of seeing.