Leon Xu

Leon Xu’s work explores the boundaries between memory, identity, and place. Drawing on his background as a Chinese-born immigrant in the United States, Xu creates paintings which engage with themes of cultural displacement, emotional residue, and the tension between visibility and obscurity. His visual language is characterized by a dreamlike sensibility-scenes appear hazy, melancholic, and suspended in time, evoking moments that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar. Informed by an early interest in graffiti and instinct-driven mark-making, Xu’s practice resists rigid narrative, favouring ambiguity and introspection. Through the use of soft palettes, layered textures, and ephemeral forms, Xu’s work becomes a space for contemplation-one that embraces transience and the shifting nature of memory.