Mahesh Singh “scans” the external and internal multifaceted nature with a cold yet affectionate gaze and brushwork. Under the dominion of a cool color palette, the solitary raft on the waves, the bright moon between the cliffs, and the stone monuments and clouds outside the night window, all imbued with classical and philosophical implications, are common subjects of his representation. In an interesting and perhaps fitting contrast, Wang Weijue's flat works, predominantly made from wool felt, appear bright and lively at first glance, with an orange-pink dominant hue full of a joyful pop atmosphere. Upon closer examination, a sensibility that is not always on display emerges.

“Misting the Hillsides" attempts to delve into the intertextual aspects of the works of Mahesh Singh and Wang Weijue in terms of semantic meaning and the dimensions of the exhibition presentation. It first manifests as the relationship between display and concealment: We are familiar with a universal aesthetic principle that has been eloquently expressed in Chinese classical poetry as "the mountain's hue is in the midst of being and not being" (from Wang Wei's "Gazing at the Han River"). The "being" part is, of course, the mountain itself, encompassing the sensory experience the viewer gains through the mountain's form, texture, and color; yet, what brings this aesthetic experience to fulfillment is not, or not solely, the existence of the mountain, but a shift in attention, that is, "from being to non-being," or "(the mountain's hue) oscillating between being and non-being." Drawing from common aesthetic experiences, the "non-being" part almost naturally corresponds to the mist that obscures the mountain.