Wuhan-born artist Xinyi Cheng makes whimsical paintings that hold your gaze, drawing liberally from the Western art canon, and putting her own spin on everyone from Otto Dix to Edgar Degas, for the purpose. “Perhaps it’s the almost luminescent colours of pink, purple and red that seem to dart out from the canvas, or the many characters who look straight back at you,” muses Louise Benson, who chose Cheng as an upcoming artist to watch. “[Her] scenes of everyday life float somewhere between a dream and reality, like the smoke rising from an uncleared ashtray.” Learn more about Cheng’s practice, and the rest of this month’s essential artists, here.
