London-based painter, Changpeng Li, who hails from China, investigates how today’s incessant flow of media images compresses and flattens perception. Appropriating digital and broadcast fragments as if they were rolls of camera film, he “develops” these overlooked visuals into slow, tactile, oil paintings that reactivate memory, metaphor and cultural residue. In doing so, Li’s practice echoes—but also updates—the lineage of painters, taking a leaf from luminaries such as Gerhard Richter, and probes the tension between photographic image and painted surface, whilst, still articulating a distinctly millennial experience of screen culture and meme culture.
Li, earned his Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2023, and has exhibited across London and China. His Instagram handle, @oisoxo, playfully references mathematical equations (0×0=0 and 0=0×0) and the myth of Sisyphus, evoking the ceaseless, often futile grind of daily life. At the core of his practice, as seen in his previous works, is an examination of the latent violence embedded in the proliferation of images. Though seemingly innocuous, visual culture exerts subtle coercion, overwhelming viewers with information and compelling engagement. Li’s paintings “develop” these fleeting visuals, generating ambiguity and uncertainty while prompting a deeper encounter with memory, metaphor, and cultural resonance.
Through his debut show, “Free Fall” curated by Junyao Chan at LOY Gallery (Singapore), between 2 October to 31 December 2025, youthful talent, Li presents a body of work that translates the relentless scroll of the digital world into contemplative, tactile experiences, inviting audiences to pause, reflect, and rediscover meaning in the images that saturate their daily lives. Despite the intensity of the subjects, ranging from urban insomnia to mediated images of social life, the paintings are frequently small in scale, often only a few inches across. This invites a quiet, reflective encounter that contrasts with the overwhelming immediacy of screens. Li’s palette, often suffused with mauve shadows, draws from Impressionist methods while also neutralizing the chaos of media images, creating a subtle, spectral resonance that amplifies the psychological and emotional tenor of each work.
Popspoken: This marks your debut with LOY Gallery in Singapore. What excites you most about presenting your work in this new context, and how do you think audiences here might read your paintings differently than in London or Shanghai.
Changpeng Li (“CL”): This is my first time showing in Singapore, and that alone excites me. A new context always brings new perspectives, so I stay curious about what I haven’t experienced yet. For me, Singapore feels like a coin spinning in the air — English on one side, Chinese on the other. It sits between one of the world’s most global language systems and one of the most ancient, which makes it a unique place for understanding metaphors. Language is concrete, but images are not. I don’t want to and I can’t control what people think when they face a painting. Everyone sees differently, and that difference is precious.
Popspoken: Much of your practice reflects on the endless scroll of digital imagery. When your paintings are installed in a physical gallery, how do you hope they shift viewers away from that mode of looking?
CL: Digital images are often locked behind screens and trapped in doomscrolling, always refreshing on a timeline. But, standing in front of a painting in a physical space usually creates a rare pause — it slows us down and invites us to “read” the image instead of just “look.” I like images that make me think of something else right away, just like memes suddenly popping up in a chat with friends. Through playful cropping, I try to give them more openness for interpretation, linking them to viewers’ own life experiences so they can unfold memories and imagination.
Popspoken: You have described painting as a kind of “darkroom” for developing overlooked images. Could you share how this process played out in a specific work that will be shown in Singapore?
CL: In Jerry’s Portal, I borrowed a single frame from the cartoon Tom and Jerry—a tiny doorway that is Jerry’s home. On screen it’s just a fleeting detail, but in painting I treat it like a darkroom process, re-developing it from the negatives of memory into something that asks for attention. For me, this little portal is more than a cartoon hideout; it’s also a metaphor for a drifting identity—being at home everywhere, yet never fully at home. Painting gives this passing image a new weight, revealing not only its form but also reflections on belonging and adaptability.
Popspoken: Having grown up in China, studied in London, and now showing in Singapore, how do these cross-cultural experiences shape your understanding of image consumption and memory?
CL: Living in different cultures at different stages has given me layered perspectives. Each place has its own rhythm of image consumption—from social media habits to cultural metaphors—so memory feels fluid and context-dependent. East Asian schooling trained me to read subtle, sometimes opaque texts, which made me sensitive to metaphor. In London I learned a different muscle: clarity and critique—saying why, testing ideas in open discussion—and the city’s diversity sharpened my feel for memes and references. This still shapes how I look at things. I also keep a small habit: I check where I was “on this day last year,” and the same event always feels different.
Looking ahead, what questions are you beginning to ask in your studio that go beyond media imagery—are there other themes or forms you hope to explore?
CL: For me, images are always an entry point, but not the end point. In this show, World 1-1 is already a small step in that direction. I’m thinking about how different images might encounter one another—like fragments coming together to form new sentences, even whole texts. It’s less about single works and more about practicing a kind of visual grammar. I hope painting can carry this layered reading experience further, while also leaving space for more elusive, personal sensations—like insomnia, shifting light, or the pauses you feel in space.
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