From April 25 to May 20, 2026, the Galleria delle Carrozze at Palazzo Medici Riccardi will host “Il Giardino del Tempo”, a solo exhibition by Chinese artist Gulistan, one of the most compelling voices on the international contemporary art scene.
Curated by Claudio Rocca and organized by the Fondazione 923 Shanghai Art Space, the exhibition is presented under the patronage of the City of Florence, the Metropolitan City of Florence, and the Region of Tuscany.
A selection of 45 works outlines a dense and layered visual universe, in which thoughts, memories, dreams, and symbols intertwine to shape an intimate narrative that resonates on a universal level. The exhibition invites visitors to immerse themselves in a dimension suspended between memory and imagination, traversing a space where inner motifs and cultural references merge in a continuous dialogue.
Gulistan’s painting stands out for its ability to connect different traditions: on the one hand, Chinese visual culture, with its focus on the line, negative space, and the spiritual dimension; on the other, influences drawn from the history of European art. The result is an original artistic language in which East and West engage in a dialogue—ideally, visually, and spiritually—giving rise to a synthesis that makes the artist a true bridge between worlds.
From a technical standpoint, the works reveal a complex process: oil paints dissolved like watercolors create layered surfaces where the painterly gesture alternates between solid and void, presence and fading. The sepia-colored brushstrokes evoke Renaissance sinopias and, at the same time, recall the Chinese painting tradition of diluted ink. The human figures, often evanescent, emerge as suspended apparitions, outlined by soft and deliberately incomplete contours: a deliberate choice that leaves the viewer an active space for interpretation.
Emptiness, a central element in Chinese tradition, takes on a fundamental value here: it is not absence, but possibility. The white space becomes an opening, a question, an invitation to complete the image through one’s own experience. In this sense, Gulistan’s work does not merely present itself, but asks to be inhabited.
The focal point of the exhibition is the theme of the Garden, understood as both a physical and symbolic space. In Eastern culture, it represents a microcosm in balance, a place of contemplation and harmony with nature; in the artist’s works, it becomes a metaphor for memory and time, a space where past and present coexist and continually regenerate. The garden thus transforms into a theater of apparition: figures that emerge and withdraw from view, presences suspended between the visible and the invisible.
Even the titles of the works—Meditation, We Are Leaves of the Same Tree, Notes of the Earth, Homage to the Classics, Memory of the Portrait, Roaming in Europe—guide the viewer into a personal symbolism that opens up to universal interpretations.
The dialogue with Palazzo Medici Riccardi is an integral part of the project. A symbolic site of the Florentine Renaissance, the palace is not merely a container but an active interlocutor: its architecture and history engage with the works, creating a dialogue between eras and worldviews. While in the Renaissance the garden was an expression of order and proportion, in Gulistan’s work it becomes an inner space, a topography of the soul.
As curator Claudio Rocca emphasizes, the garden here is not merely an ornament but a true cultural device: the juxtaposition of Renaissance harmony and Eastern vision triggers a profound reflection on the very concept of balance, between rationality and spiritual resonance.
The artist’s palette is intense and distinctive: vibrant reds, deep blues, golden yellows, and luminous greens form chromatic fields that immediately capture the eye. As Cristina Acidini notes, it is the colors themselves that welcome the viewer, even before the work is interpreted, generating bold contrasts and surprising visual harmonies. The figures, devoid of weight and plastic form, appear as moving presences, colored shadows in a state of constant flux.
At the core of Gulistan’s practice lies a conception of time that is not linear, but layered and circular. Past, present, and future coexist and interpenetrate, giving shape to a vision in which East and West do not oppose one another, but integrate into a profound coexistence.
Time thus becomes a garden: every element is memory, every image is a trace, every work is a fragment of civilization that continues to live and transform.
Biographical Notes
Gulistan lives and works in Beijing. After earning a Master’s degree in oil painting from Capital Normal University, she obtained a Master’s in Education in Australia. She currently teaches at the same university and has exhibited at major international institutions, including the China Art Museum, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Today Art Museum, the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and the Poly Art Museum in Beijing. Her works have been presented in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and in 2020 she received the Contemporary Art Creation Award from the International Federation of Women Artists. Notable recent exhibitions include a solo show at the National Art Museum of China (2021), the Florence Biennale (2023), and participation in the international art fair at the Louvre in Paris (2024). In 2026, she held a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
