Translated onto canvas is one way that Ma Jianfeng describes some of his works. In the winter of 2017, because of a fire close to his studio, the artist found himself working in the restaurant of the building he was living in and was therefore limited to small scale works on paper. It was only years later that these works were translated into paintings, most of which are shown here, In Time. Some portraits of people seen on the London subway, plants from a library, historical figures from photographs, a couple seen at Sandwich in 2019 - a mix of resources from the last few years with no particular common theme other than the passing of time. Working from photographs and working from memory, unapologetic references to his years spent in Europe and oversaturated colors. 

In Time is an atypical show for Ma, as he is usually displaying his works as painting installations, blending oil on canvas with scrap, everyday materials, reconfiguring, dismantling and reassembling them, “creating chaotic and theatrical spaces brimming with ambiguity and vitality.” At Sandwich Offspace, his physical absence is palpable, his interventions into space subtle, his works raw. 

Ma Jianfeng (b.1983, Zhejiang, CN) studied mural painting at China Academy of Art and has a Masters from the University of the Arts Berlin in 2012. Currently he lives and works in Beijing, China. His recent solo and group exhibitions include Ma Jianfeng: Irreconcilable, Magician Space, Beijing, CN (2021); Let Painting Talk, Taikang Space, Beijing, CN (2021); Being of Evils, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, CN (2020); Garage Sale, Sandwich Gallery, Bucharest, RO (2019); Ghost Island, I: project space, Beijing, CN (2019); Ma

Jianfeng: Treasure Island, GAO Gallery, London, UK (2019); Asia Culture Center,

Gwangju, KOR (2018); The U-Cloister, Institute for Provocation, Beijing, CN (2018);

The New Normal: China, Art and 2017, UCCA, Beijing, CN (2017).