A White Horse Is Not a Horse?

Li Gang closes OCHRE SPACE’s Year of the Horse programme with Appearance and Abstraction

OCHRE SPACE presents Appearance and Abstraction, an exhibition by Chinese photographer Li Gang, opening on 27 October at 18:30 and on view until 14 November 2026. Curated by João Miguel Barros, the exhibition marks the conclusion of OCHRE SPACE’s programme celebrating the Chinese Year of the Horse.

“A white horse is not a horse.”

This ancient Chinese philosophical paradox offers an unexpected way into Li Gang’s photographs. What happens when an animal becomes a shape, when movement dissolves into abstraction, or when a familiar subject becomes almost impossible to recognise?

Working in black and white, Li Gang explores the boundaries between representation and abstraction. Groups of white horses merge into luminous compositions, their bodies overlapping until individual forms become difficult to distinguish. Elsewhere, movement transforms the animals into blurred gestures, recalling the expressive qualities of Chinese calligraphy and painting.

Yet the horses never disappear entirely. An eye, a mane or the curve of a neck is enough to bring the viewer back to the animal itself.

With Appearance and Abstraction, OCHRE SPACE concludes a year of exhibitions dedicated to the horse, inviting visitors to reconsider not only what they see, but how they see it.

Opening
27 October 2026 · 18:30

27 October – 14 November 2026
Wednesday to Saturday
15:00 – 18:30
Free admission

OCHRE SPACE
Rua da Bica do Marquês, 31-A
Lisbon