Seamless: Phénix Varbanov’s Theatre of Xuan Paper

红门画廊荣幸推出《非折叠：宋小松的纸本剧场》，本次展览由萧煌担任策展人，丁韵秋担任学术主持。展览时间为2026年9月5日至10月4日。

Red Gate Gallery is proud to present Seamless: Phénix Varbanov’s Theatre of Xuan Paper, with Xiao Huang serving as the curator and Mimi Ding as the academic curator. The exhibition will run from September 5 to October 4, 2026. 

《非折叠》——2026：宋小松的纸本剧场

红门画廊35周年

《非折叠》并非对物理动作的否定，而是对”折叠”这一概念边界的溢出与超越。在宋小松的创作中，”折”只是出发点——是施加于宣纸纤维的压力，是索非亚、巴黎与北京三重地缘记忆的压缩；而”非”则是生成，是裂痕处迸发的结构，是宣纸从平面向三维空间突围的意志。这种辩证关系构成了本次展览的核心：折叠意在闭合，而”非折叠”旨在打开——在纸层的缝隙间辟出光与空气的通道，在东西方的张力间确立一个充满爆发力的”之间”场域。值此红门画廊35周年之际，这场”纸本剧场”呈现了宋小松对”结构即身体”的最新探索。它拒绝将水墨简化为猎奇的”东方奇观”，也拒绝将抽象降格为装饰性的视觉风格。在这里，宣纸不再是被动承载笔墨的媒介，而是主动呼吸的剧场；折叠不再是终结的痕迹，而是重生的序章。观众将目睹的，不是一个关于折叠的展览，而是一个由折叠引发、却最终超越折叠的视觉宇宙——正如艺术家法文名 Phénix 所隐喻的那样，在灰烬与裂痕中，重构新的秩序。

萧煌写于2026年8月22日

Seamless

Phénix Varbanov’s Theatre of Xuan Paper, 2026

Red Gate Gallery 35th Anniversary

Seamless is not a negation of the physical act, but an overflow that exceeds the conceptual boundaries of “folding.” In Phénix Varbanov’s practice, folding is but a point of departure—a pressure exerted upon the fibers of Xuan paper, a compression of the threefold geo-memories of Sofia, Paris, and Beijing—whereas the “Non” signifies becoming: the structure that erupts from the fissure, the will of the paper to break through from the two-dimensional plane into three-dimensional space. This dialectic lies at the heart of the exhibition: folding seeks closure, while Non-Folding enacts an opening—carving channels of light and air within the interstices of layered paper, and establishing a charged, explosive “in-between” field amid the tensions of East and West. Marking Red Gate Gallery’s 35th anniversary, this “Theatre of Xuan Paper” presents Varbanov’s latest inquiry into “structure as body.” It refuses to reduce ink to an exotic “Oriental curiosity,” nor does it allow abstraction to devolve into mere decorative style. Here, Xuan paper is no longer a passive medium that merely bears the brush, but an actively breathing theatre; folding is no longer a terminal trace, but the prelude to rebirth. What confronts the viewer is not an exhibition about folding, but a visual universe set in motion by folding and ultimately transcending it—embodying, as the artist’s French name Phénix suggests, the reconstruction of a new order from ashes and fissures.

By Xiao Huang 2026/08/22

关于艺术家 About the Artist

Phénix Varbanov 宋小松出生于索非亚，父亲是保加利亚人，母亲是中国人，都是艺术家。 在巴黎国家高等美术学院学习后，他加入了杭州的中国美术学院。 虽然此后他继续按照中国传统技术使用纸张和墨水，但他的实践从未停止过他曾接近的萌芽技术和记忆：摩擦、揉搓、折叠、稀释墨水、印记、概念艺术、抽象。二十多年来，他持续在巴黎和北京展出。毫无疑问，他是一个开放和国际化文化的典范，他随时准备走出自己的印记，通过绘画、素描、装置和摄影，赋予了强烈统一的作品。Phénix 于2023年获得查尔斯·乌尔蒙特奖。

Phénix Varbanov was born in Sofia to a Bulgarian father and a Chinese mother, both artists. After studying at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he joined the Chinese Art Academy in Hangzhou. Although he has continued to work with paper and ink using traditional Chinese techniques, his practice has constantly blossomed with the techniques and memories that his appetite embraces: rubbing, crumpling, folding, ink dilution, imprinting, conceptual art, abstraction. He has been exhibiting in Paris and Beijing for over twenty years. Exemplary of an open and cosmopolitan culture, always ready to venture beyond his own marks, he produces with painting, drawing, installation, and photography a body of work of strong unity.

关于策展人 About the Curator

萧煌，艺术学博士、文旅产业策划专家、策展人。现任大型文化工程《百年巨匠》策划、百年巨匠（北京）文化传播有限公司副董事长、北京对外文化贸易协会国际艺术交流专业委员会主任委员及多所高校客座教授。

长期致力于文化产业的跨界策划与学术整合。在主导大型文化工程的跨平台拓展中，探索出一条以影像档案参与国家文化记忆建构的学术路径，使《百年巨匠》成为当代国家文化IP与国际化传播的标杆。同时，深耕中国材料表现绘画研究，构建了“材料物性—材料语言—材料精神”三维理论体系，在核心C刊发表多篇重要论文并主编三部学术文献集。作为国家艺术基金项目策展人，主持了“纸语千年·艺韵华章”“寻言观象”“周而复始”等国家级重要学术展览，构建了从理论研究到实践传播的完整体系，是中国材料表现绘画研究与国际传播的重要推动者。

Xiao Huang (Shawn), Ph.D. in Art, is a distinguished expert in cultural and tourism industry planning and a seasoned curator. He currently serves as the Planner of the major cultural project Century Masters, Vice Chairman of Century Masters (Beijing) Culture Communication Co., Ltd., Director of the International Art Exchange Professional Committee at the Beijing Foreign Cultural Trade Association, and Guest Professor at several academic institutions.

Xiao Huang has long been dedicated to the cross-disciplinary planning and academic integration of the cultural industry. While spearheading the multi-platform expansion of major cultural projects, he has pioneered an academic paradigm that utilizes visual archives to participate in the construction of national cultural memory. Through these efforts, Century Masters has been established as a benchmark for contemporary national cultural IPs and international communication.

Simultaneously, Xiao Huang has deeply engaged in the study of Chinese material-expression painting. He has constructed a tripartite theoretical framework—”material physicality, material language, and material spirit”—and has published multiple significant papers in core academic journals (CSSCI) while serving as the chief editor of three important academic anthologies. As a curator for the China National Arts Fund, he has organized key national academic exhibitions, including “Splendor Paper Art for Millennia”, “Tracing the Word, Seeking the Image”, and “Timeless Return”. By building a comprehensive framework that bridges theoretical research and practical dissemination, he stands as a pivotal driving force in the research and international communication of Chinese material-expression painting.