LIS10 Gallery opens its new space in Hong Kong with the two-artist show, "Past is just the prologue", on Saturday 22 March at 12 pm.

The artists are Agnes Waruguru and Joel Bigaignon.

Despite their differences, the artists share common themes and attitude: painting as a tool to investigate and stimulate reflection in the observer. Both are African artists with international experience; they look at history, their continent and today's world, mixing traditional African ideas with modern styles.

Agnes Waruguru (Nairobi, Kenya, 1994) is a young artist who has already participated in the 2024 Venice Biennale. She has developed a rich and complex symbolic universe that she uses with brush, spray and pour on cotton painting, often set up in the installation dimension.

Joël Bigaignon (Mauritius, 1968) has recently participated in an intense exhibition tour that saw him in Los Angeles, London, New York and Copenhagen. Following a solid preparation and activity in the field of design, he has developed a painting that uses collage as its preferred technique to create paintings characterised by an elaborate and lively use of colour.

The materials used by the two artists have marked "political" and claiming values; Waruguru uses cotton, thinking about its social and historical meaning in relation to colonialism. Bigaignon uses a mix of materials and drawings that refer to the constant cycle of creation and destruction, and the sense of uncertainty that is present in many parts of his homeland and in his childhood memories.

Two artists who combine ethics and aesthetics, as well as pictorial and thematic investigations, and the ability to develop a personal technical language. These artists fit into the ongoing global creative scene research by LIS10 Gallery, with particular attention to the 'effervescent' African continent.

The exhibition runs until 11 May 2025.