Neither entirely abstract, nor figurative, Xie Nanxing’s painting The Dwarfs’ Refrain #7 depicts a scene evoking an exchange between two anthropomorphic figures. Rendered in sporadic brushstrokes against a bright red background, the figures appear murky and indistinct, inviting the viewer to fill in the gaps of negative space present within the painting. The title references a body of work by the artist, but can also serve to indicate the depiction of a specific event. Based on an illustration by Nanxing’s father, who the artist commissioned to create several drawings in the cartoonish style of their childhood lessons, the ‘dwarfs’ of these illustrations, provide the source material for this series of paintings, distorted in various ways. Nanxing’s paintings are often full of intriguing contradictions that the viewer must navigate, their formal execution seemingly contrasting with the conceptual premise of the works.