Maps of No Return: He Gong Solo Exhibition
Maps of No Return: He Gong Solo ExhibitionSophia Grace Gallery proudly presents Maps of No Return, a rare Pacific Northwest solo exhibition by renowned intercultural artist He Gong. Blending Eastern and Western visual traditions, He Gong’s works grapple with themes of memory, migration, and resilience.
｜Curator｜
Dr. Sophia Kidd
Associate Professor at School of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University, Lecturer at the Sichuan University of Foreign Languages, Lecturer at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and Lecturer at the University of Bochum. Dr. Sophia Kidd is the Founder of Words Art International, Director of Igneus Press, and Editor of Literature and Modern China, a journal of School of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University. Dr. Sophia Kidd is a research curator, art critic, translator, and writer who has lived and worked in Chengdu for over ten years, working closely with Chinese scholars, artists, and specialists in the field of art and facilitating exchanges between them and their counterparts abroad. She has recently published a monograph Culture Paves the New Silk Roads(Palgrave, 2022.) Kidd also wrote a chapter that appeared in Spatial Literary Studies in China, (Palgrave, 2023.) Kidd also edit-in -chief 《咖啡评论：中国特辑》 The Cafe Review: The Chinese Issue (XPress, 2021.) Kidd also did English translations of a large number of modern poems from southwest China, especially from the Sichuan and Chongqing regions.
Email: sophiakidd@yanluartsandculture.com
｜Featured Artists｜
He Gong（China）
He Gong (b. 1955, Chongqing, China) is a Chinese contemporary artist whose practice engages questions of migration, memory, and cultural hybridity. He earned his MFA from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1985 before relocating to the United States in 1986. From 2005 to 2024, he served as Professor of Art at Sichuan University, shaping a generation of emerging artists. Dividing his time between Chengdu and Los Angeles, He Gong’s work reflects a sustained dialogue between Eastern and Western artistic traditions. His paintings, exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Venice Biennale and the Edinburgh Festival, trace personal and collective journeys across landscapes where individuals actively embrace marginalization, continuously transcend identity boundaries, and ultimately return to primal authenticity. His recent practice embraces a narrative turn, using the visual field as a stage for unfolding allegories of identity, longing, and transformation. Through luminous storytelling, He Gong invites viewers into a theatre of memory where myth and lived experience converge.
｜Exhibited Works｜
Blue Pool（2025）
He Gong, Acrylic with stencil technique, 16″ x 20″
Crossing the Hudson River (2019）
He Gong, Mixed media on paper, 25″ x 31″
Night Travels（2025）
He Gong, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 44” × 48”
Pisces（2023）
He Gong, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30.5”
May – Tinnitus as Metaphor（2024）
He Gong, Acrylic on paper, 32.5” × 41”
The Shoes You Wear Set Your Path（2025）
He Gong, Acrylic on canvas, 36” ×24”
She Had Arms Also（2024）
He Gong, Mixed media on paper, 36” × 24”
Year of the Snake（2025）
He Gong, Acrylic on wood, 19” ×13”
No Return from Babel（2023）
He Gong, Acrylic of paper, 29” × 32.5”
The Distant Canal（2019）
He Gong, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 44” × 48”
Within the Folds of Time（2025）
He Gong, Acrylic on paper, 17.5” × 24”
Air Beneath My Wings（2025）
He Gong, Mixed media on paper, Mixed media on canvas, 32” × 37.5”
Give Me Back My Warrior Wings（2025）
He Gong, Mixed media on paper, 114” × 104”
You’ve Been Warned（2025）
He Gong, Mixed media on paper, 36” × 26”