Zeng Fanzhi is returning to New York for his first solo exhibition in the city in over a decade, Hauser & Wirth has announced. The show will be held at the gallery's 22nd Street space, with an opening reception on Thursday 5 November from 6 to 8pm.

At the heart of the presentation is a new sculpture, shown alongside a suite of new paintings that conjure imagined celestial landscapes and topographies. Studio photographs released with the announcement offer a first look at the new works, including detailed views of paintings made in 2024, 2025 and 2026, in which layered, luminous surfaces suggest terrain seen from far above. The announcement describes the paintings as resplendent, and the close details trace the body of work across three years of studio production, from an earlier canvas to the most recent pieces.

The return carries some weight because of the gap: more than ten years have passed since Zeng last had a solo exhibition in New York, and the new body of work pairs three-dimensional form with the large-scale painting for which he is best known. The celestial imagery points to a long-running interest in landscape as a state of mind rather than a place, with the paintings moving between abstraction and representation.

The exhibition opens at Hauser & Wirth's West 22nd Street gallery, and the gallery is inviting visitors to the opening reception on 5 November to see the new sculpture and paintings together for the first time. Doors open at 6pm, and the new sculpture will be on view alongside the full suite of paintings.