黑料不打烊

Echo Chamber by Lukas Lucius Leichte at White Space in Beijing’s Art Bounded Zone stretches your pupil to see the texture, heat, and sensuality of skin. I unexpectedly saw the exhibition after viewing Chen Qin’s Mangrove at Tang Contemporary’s headquarters. I’m happy I stopped in though because the work made me feel as if I was in bed with a stranger, like I was being held, and as if I was hiding under a sheet counting the hairs on a lover’s back.

Walking into the gallery you’re met with white walls and an almost circular gallery with a thick column standing in the center. Directly across Pushing Outward, 2025, nearly beckons, as the single gesture of a clasped hand fidgeting at best. Thumb over middle finger, pointer finger resting on the skin right below the nail of the thumb as it presses on the index finger with the pinky hiding below, only a bit more than half of its nail visible. The glossy skin suggests warmth in the body, while the posture of the five digits suggests contemplation, irritability, there’s also a chance of excess energy of the body searching for a way out through tensing.

Lukas Luzius Leichtle, Pushing Outward, 2024, oil on linen, 80×105 cm. Courtesy of White Space.

Tension. I’m seeing this again in most of the works, especially both Untitled, 2025, paintings. Here, almost identical paintings hang adjacent to one another. One more red, shoulder pulled back practically smashed into the sheet as if it were accidentally placed there. The latissimus muscle pressed on the bedside basically clamped, neck barely visible and right ribcage curved from stretching to accommodate the spine, the elbow is angled and looks trapped. One a tinge bluer, the elbow is housed in the space between the bottom of the lat and bottom of the spine. The spine curves less, but the ribs are much more visible. The neck is wrinkled to the right and free from the sheets which are looser in wrinkles. Tensed in a way that leans into relaxation, rest, or sleep after a hard day. Both share their similarities, but neither imbue identical impulses.

Lukas Luzius Leichtle, Untitled, 2025, oil on linen over wood panel, 19×24 cm, framed dimension: 20×25 cm. Courtesy of White Space.

You can see the humid nature of the skin; you can collect the soft feel of cotton in your irises. Leitche manages to pull the viewer into these intimacies of the moments which pass when we are in our most vulnerable state: lying on ribcage, walking tip-toed across the floor in secret, looking at how the shadows are cast as light shines through a lonely window. The work lets time stand still, and the largest organ of the body shine as a beacon to caress your vision and light up your senses.

Lukas Luzius Leichtle, Untitled, 2025, oil on linen over wood panel, 19×24 cm, framed dimension: 20×25 cm. Courtesy of White Space.

Echo Chamber was on view at White Space between February 22 and May 3rd, 2025. If you would like to inquire with the gallery for more information they can be reached via email.

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