I have known and followed Lv Peng for almost 20 years with Red Gate first hosting his exhibition titled Capital Nights in 2001. To this day, the themes suggested in those early works are embedded in all that follows. Fantasy, disruption and madness in life and the greater world are the fabric of his ink on paper or acrylic on canvas works.

　　You can see it at first glance, but that first glance becomes an optical fascination as you become drawn into each work trying to decipher the drama being staged before you. Everything is on the palette – illusion, theatre, deception, Kungfu action, intrigue, love, and of course sensual abandon – and all this twirls in constant movement, racing through a highly energized play of Lv Peng's soul, from one scene to the next, one stage set to another.

　　Reading Lv Peng's work becomes easier as you realize all the visual chaos is anchored by the tradition of landscape painting in many of the works on paper. Beyond canvas and ink on paper works, Lv pushes his own boundaries further by exploring the mediums of sculpture and printmaking in this exhibition.

　　I have always thought of Lv Peng as the coolest guy in the room, sure of himself and in control. But that's it – maybe he is not, and these works before us try to codify his internalized machinations about what is swirling around his life in China.

　　This exhibition – Lost World – and the accompanying catalogues and essays give you and entre into the kaleidoscopic vision of Lv Peng.

Brian Wallace

Beijing, September 2011