Zhuang Hong Yi is an artist originating from China which is very influential on his work with obvious links to lotus flowers. In the painting themselves they incorporate lotus flowers as an actual medium. 

I really like the use 

With lightness of touch and painterly dexterity, John Kørner explores his medium’s fundamental duality - its physical presence and its descriptive powers - and the potential for communication or miscommunication that ensues. Kørner has referred to his apparently cheerful paintings as 'Problems'. The viewer is often presented with non-figurative forms including multicoloured ovals and dancing arabesques that symbolise a kind of pre-thought, and simple figurative elements that remind us of the ways in which paint can be used to evoke universally recognisable things: a bicycle, a crocodile, a ship, a person. When displayed simultaneously, often on grounds of my intense colour in the works for which Kørner first became known, these abstract signs and nameable things cause the eye to dance between levels of recognition.

‘I mostly recognise a “Problem” as a metaphor for ongoing life.’

I really liked the consideration of atmosphere with this private view, John Korner had chosen mulled cider and whisky for alcoholic beverages linking to his Dutch heritage. The mulled cider was possibly also a consideration of the weather at the time since it had been snowing over the week. The interaction between the art and the crowd was vital to the atmosphere. To obtain a shot of whisky my friend had to mount a vintage climbing frame, this made everyone laugh as it made everyone feel like a child. Playing on nostalgia created a more excitable atmosphere since we associate childness with excitement.

The bar, Kørner explains, is a reflection of the time-travelling transformation we undergo when drinking alcohol. ‘It seems that lots of people change personality when they go drinking. Especially in the UK, there’s so many pubs – and I’m fascinated by this culture. It has a great impact on the demeanour. For instance, I smile more when I drink. For some people, it’s a way of escaping to a place where time moves differently.’ For better or worse.

I think the atmosphere strongly benefited the art presented, it spurred your perspective of the paintings towards a fun and energetic view. I really enjoyed the interactive approach to his work, he wants to engage the viewers make them feel like they're contributing or further fulling the artwork.

Kørner's work encourages musings that can seem contradictory: on the one hand it is apparently open and easy-going, on the other it seems freighted with awkward questions about representation, knowledge, or faith. Whether asking fundamental existential questions or alluding to specific world events, the work speaks unquestionably to our own moment.

The pace of contemporary life has never moved so fast,’ says Copenhagen-based artist John Kørner, while peddling comically slowly on his bike installation at Victoria Miro’s Wharf Road gallery in London. The bike is attached to a moving platform topped with a stall of chairs built for visitors, parallel to a vast, 12-panel painting charting a sunrise and set. The installation is designed to ‘slow us down, and see the painting from a different perspective’.

The exhibition – ‘Life in a Box’ – revolves around the physical, emotional, and conceptual constraints of time passing, and the ways in which we attempt to ‘outrun’ them. Kørner depicts runners in cross-country garb, shifting in-and-out of focus into vivid yellow and red backgrounds, as if we’re just missing them as they zoom past. In the upstairs gallery, a sweeping, floridly-coloured race track covers the floor; the finish-line dissected by a giant climbing frame that also functions as a bar, which Kørner encourages you to climb up, and order a shot.

Korner has a recurring use of perspective, it's most obvious in this piece using the main focal point as the perspective point which leads you into the painting. The use of white creates an illusion of infinity and makes the painting have a strong sense of depth. Other instances of perspective are with the water reflections creating leading lines that draw the viewer into the painting of an abstract landscape.

Likewise the boxes seen throughout the exhibition have manifold meaning. At times, they appear prison-like and claustrophobic, drawing you in like a box set. At other times, they are protective; containing within them calming, vast green planes. For the artist, ‘they refer to anything from mental “boxes”, to apartments, to crates of apples, to TV sets, to the tall walls of a valley’. Rather than prescribe meaning, his ‘main aim is to communicate with the viewer, and have my work resonate with something in their life’.

He uses his paintings in a similar style of sculpting the page, using primarily highlights and shadows like he's developing on clay, subtracting and adding. He likes to use washes in order to create an effect of water and reflection which I think is a smart technique to use rather than painting the reflection itself, it creates more accurate symmetry and also creates the illusion of reflecting light off a flat surface, like the water.

I really respect his attitude to art similar to fluid art style, he doesn't stay in one area, he melts into other aspects of art, considering installation with the carpet, sculpture with his red blob, and performance art with his cycled moving seats. I want to take his approach and broad style into my own view of my work. I want to create versatile and broad art pieces. I was instantly drawn and fascinated at the use of carpet across the room, a small but monumental aspect, there was different colour schemes of the same painting printed on the carpet, and a pattern of his piece that looks like a little blob which is consistently present in most of his work the oblong blob structure intrigued me because of the choice of lighting, I instantly remembered when I was in primary school art class and we were taught about highlights and shadows, normally with the subject being an apple. The structure is visually quite satisfying it has a strong bold red colour and stark shadow creating a very bold piece of sculpture. I think its intriguing because of its ambiguity, there's no obvious connotation making it adaptable symbol. Korner uses this to his advantage when including it in paintings, using it as a placeholder shape for structures or objects.

The exhibition also contains a number of Kørner’s storied ‘problems’: egg-shaped sculptures that represent the universal nature of issues, questions and conundrums. The idea has followed Kørner for much of his career, first appearing in the years after his graduation from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Copenhagen in 1988. At Victoria Miro, they take the form of bright, primary-coloured sculptures dotted along the race track, obstacles in the way of the theoretical runners chasing their goals; and gallery visitors navigating the space, forcing them to move slowly and deliberately.

Anna Liber Lewis is a London-based painter, who has earned numerous accolades for her vividly bold and wry fine art, including the Griffin Art Prize (now the Elephant x Griffin Art Prize) in 2017. Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, is an electronic music visionary (who also previously co-founded the group Fridge), with an extensive catalogue that spans numerous albums including 2017’s New Energy, atmospheric club compilations (FabricLive; DJ Kicks), and collaborations under his own name with Steve Reid. The pair have also been life-long friends, and their deep-rooted dynamic fuels Muscle Memory: a new exhibition of Liber Lewis’s art soundtracked by exclusive Four Tet music, in our pioneering London project space, Elephant West: a former petrol station transformed into an exhibition/live event hub. I spoke with the pair ahead of the opening.

Exhibition with music by a childhood friend of anna liber lewis called fourtet. The music was playing on overhead speakers while walking through the exhibition. I really like her style of visuals, she creates abstract and interesting patterns. The paintings have a lot going on visually when standing in from of them you can stay the for a while abstracting the shapes and colours to create your own scenarios that the compositions inspire. I like the ambiguity of each piece, it changes your perspective and makes you focus on the colours and patterns of the piece rather than imagery or composition.

The is a projection of a garage door, the garage door creates a 3D effect and distorts the projection. The design projected onto the door slowly rotated, I liked the simplicity of the piece because it was already interesting as a concept that in order for it to create impact it didn't have to exceed what it already was. I find the concept of distorting projection really interesting and is definitely an idea I'm incorporating into my work. This style of distortion is interesting because it creates a patter within the piece.

In this piece you can see how she has layered beige paint over black paint with a dry brush to create a rough and transparent effect. This technique creates a sense of depth and almost makes the piece look more 3D.

I visited a private viewing of an artist called Hyon Gyon, her work was instantly gripping. When you walked in the room the paintings filled the space. One large piece covered the entire left wall, the massive piece was created using foam, wax, paint and glitter. The piece depicts a fantasy land uses imagery of rainbows, fields, and mystical creatures like unicorns. There is day of the dead symbolism using skulls laying in flowers across the bottom. As the piece spans the wall it develops different stories with different imagery and colours. There's a slightly dark and haunting patch of eyes standing out in the dark area, almost like they're looking through a dark room. Her Korean culture is obviously influential on her work through her intacrate style of painting details like hair or patterns, or through her using Korean to express what she's thinking, it leads to more mystery from anyone who doesn't understand Korean, or like a secret for only people who understand Korean. There is a strong contrast from detailed to more simplified almost cartoon imagery. This is a good dynamic for the eye because it helps create focus on the detail but also create a complete and full piece by filling the surrounding area with complementing imagery or design.

This piece was really intriguing in person because when standing right in from of it, it was hard to notice it was a face and only after piecing everything together was it easy to see that all the pieces add up to form a face. I really like the use of layering in this piece, the paintings background has a gradient from purple or green that's almost unnoticeable due to the subject matter and overlay of hair that diffuses the impact of the colour creating a seamless fade from the two opposing colours. What I find interesting is that the focus or what the eye sees first is actually the solid colour, the least detailed areas. I think this is due to the sparing use creating a larger impact when used, especially because naturally we would expect it to be the other way round, as an artist you would you would prefer the area full of detail to receive the most attention because it required the most work.

I really respect that she clearly enjoys the paintings she's created and has fun with them while still expressing raw and sensitive emotions and thoughts.