Misty-colored memories

Huang Kui is displaying oil paintings from an uncompleted project, Memory, Reality and Wishes. He has collected and painted old things such as a military water bottle, clay pot, lunch box, armband and abacus, which were commonly used in daily life in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

"They are works of memories. They used to have functional values, but now just have vacant aesthetics, which I want to question," Huang says of the exhibition, titled They Still Look Beautiful.

"After people have their basic material needs satisfied, how can they make aesthetic judgments about things? I'm just curious," he says.