Gallery EXIT is pleased to present the opening on March 27, 2009 of Shedding the Skin, the first solo exhibition of HUANG Zheng. Two new series of paintings will be exhibited alongside complimenting each other: partial portraits of a blind-folded woman and layering of gestural abstraction.

Is beauty only skin deep? HUANG Zheng takes an interest in the common intentions behind applying paint onto the surface of a canvas and applying cosmetics onto the face of a person. Although both are modes of creating illusions and diversions, the character of the person underneath nevertheless leaks through. Things are constantly hiding and uncovering themselves at the same time. The titles of Huang's work interprets this process: to uncover, is to "shed the skin", which brings about "a new beginning" and "congealing" a true identity. All these require "a strength to go forward."