Chenxiao Zhao
(She/Her)
Chenxiao Zhao is a Chinese artist based in Glasgow, currently completing an MLitt in Contemporary Art Practice at the Glasgow School of Art. Her practice centres on painting, with a particular interest in landscape, memory and imagined spaces.
Working primarily with watercolour, Zhao draws inspiration from natural and architectural forms, transforming observed landscapes through colour, reflection and imagination. Trees, mountains, houses and their reflections frequently appear in her work, creating scenes that move between the familiar and the imagined.
Her recent practice further explores the relationship between real and imagined places, particularly through reflections and altered colours. Alongside watercolour, she also experiments with different materials and textured surfaces, exploring how landscapes can be reconstructed through memory and perception.
Exhibition View, 2026
Fragments of Elsewhere, 2026
Fragments of Elsewhere brings together nine small imagined landscapes. Houses, trees, mountains and reflections are simplified and rearranged through colour and form, turning familiar scenes into fragments of places that feel distant, remembered or imagined.
Watercolour on paper
9 works, 14 × 9 cm each
Places of Stillness I–II, 2026
Places of Stillness explores quiet, imagined landscapes through trees, architecture and reflections. Muted colours and softened forms create a sense of stillness, transforming familiar scenery into spaces between reality and imagination.
Watercolour and mixed media on paper
2 works, 40 × 40 cm each
2 works, 40 × 40 cm each
The Shore That Never Was I, 2026
The Shore That Never Was, 2026
Watercolour on paper
45 × 80 cm each
Series of four works
The Shore That Never Was explores the space between landscape, memory and imagination. Through houses, trees and their reflections in water, familiar scenes are transformed into quiet, dreamlike places. The reflections create a sense of another reality—somewhere that feels familiar, but may never have existed.
Watercolour on paper 45 × 80 cm
Watercolour on paper 45 × 80 cm each
Watercolour on paper 45 × 80 cm
Watercolour on paper 45 × 80 cm
