American artist Issy Wood's Shopping/Car Interior on show at the X Museum in Beijing on Dec 5, 2020. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]

Using lush velvet as her medium and choosing leather objects as her subject matter, the artist creates a"texture-on-texture effect" in her painting, said William Weydig, an art aficionado who visited the exhibit's opening Saturday.

The close-cropped compositions, together with the subdued colors, an effect from painting on black velvet, strike many viewers as claustrophobic.

"The painting makes it hard to breathe; it feels like I'm locked in this dark space," a visitor commented in front of Wood's Tricky Question/Car Interior, featuring crimson leather back seats in a sedan.