Vanguard Gallery is pleased to present Jin Haofan’s “Islands”, a site-specific project conceived exclusively for LISTE 2025, marking the artist’s first solo presentation in Europe, from June 16th to 22nd at Booth 53.

“Islands” consists of three sets of new painting installations. The two side walls feature twin series titled “Normal Temperature 101–200” (2025) and “Normal Temperature 201–300” (2025). Each series is composed of one hundred paintings arranged like a puzzle. While presenting subtle differences, the palettes are meticulously rendered with feathered brushstrokes, creating the illusion of a chromatic and translucent atmosphere reminiscent of dusk and dawn, evoking Turneresque seascapes after a storm. Suspended within their own picture planes, two hundred unique stones appear to float eternally in their orbits. These stones bear silent witness to the perpetual cycles of natural sublimity and endure the unrelenting passage of time. However, as a collective, the puzzle emanates a profound sense of loneliness and loss, as each stone remains isolated by the clear boundaries of the grid.

The initial “Normal Temperature” series, executed in 2019 and numbered 1–100, depicted a round stone with a rectangular eclipse against a monochromatic backdrop, questioning self-integrity within a stagnant reality. This series was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Five years later, the artist revisits the motif in a changed reality, examining the human condition—individually and collectively—in an ambiguous moment, caught between the indistinguishable presence of day and darkness.

At the center of the display, embraced by the twin puzzles, is a series of vertical paintings, each depicting a unique scene of sunrise or sunset. Here, the sun, distorted by atmospheric refraction, becomes an abstract form against backgrounds radiating from warm to cool hues, transitioning seamlessly from sky to sea. The central series shares the same ambiguous temporality as “Normal Temperature” but shifts the perspective, presenting a shared view of the sun as observed from a multitude of isolated “Islands” (2024–25). This dramatic change in vantage point unifies the entire project, inviting viewers to engage in both embodied and external contemplation of the ever-changing nature of reality and oneself.