Gordon Cheung's London Exhibition Maps China's Infrastructure Through Myth and Data

British artist Gordon Cheung's exhibition 'Tears of Paradise' at Edel Assanti in London from January to March 2020 explored China's Belt and Road Initiative and infrastructure projects through layered paintings and sculptures. Cheung uses Financial Times stock listings from 1995 onward as a foundational material, overlaying them with landscape imagery and data networks to visualize globalized information spaces. His works reference specific projects like the Himalayan 'Water Towers of Asia' dams, the 'String of Pearls' ports along the Maritime Silk Road, and the Pearl River economic zone, which contributes 20% of China's GDP. The artist connects these modern systems to historical events like the 1997 Hong Kong handover, the Opium Wars, and the East India Company, examining colonial legacies. Cheung's paintings often omit human figures to create existential spaces, while sculptural window frames made from stock listings address rapid urbanization in China. He discusses the Xinjiang region's demographic shifts due to high-speed rail and touches on Uyghur Muslim reeducation camps. The artist frames infrastructure and financial markets as contemporary mythologies, comparing them to divine forces and traditional Chinese ink painting's relationship to state power.