Young Hangzhou based painter Li Qing provides new diptychs for this small gallery exhibition, that follows on the heels of a major retrospective-like show at Iberia Art Center in Beijing last year. As a Masters graduate from the painting department of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, he has been greatly influenced by the multimedia , including the recognized artist Qiu Zhijie. The content of his works are inspired by scenes from daily life that are merely a systematic tool of his artistic narrative. In his “Finding Differences” series, the artist thinks of his creations as a game where the viewer compares various details of the composition to find dissimilarities, thus paying greater attention to the content and later to the greater narrative of his image.
Excerpt from the artist statement: “My Finding Differences series seems to have also started with this evasive narrative aspect. People who have played this before know that it is only a game, nothing more than a way to pass the time. My recent work has also made me feel as if I am a game creator, using an ancient labor method to painstakingly create a simple game. I would rather encounter those people who like to compare reality – they’re willing to view these pictures as a comic with only two frames, linking together different stories, or to view them as a pair of mutually verifying and disputing photographs, and to try to figure out which one is more believable – I want to encounter them like the hunter wants to encounter his prey, even placing the thoughts I have the moment that they fall into the trap as one of my greatest joys. The picture is a lens. It is not about imitation, but refraction. Within it you can see what you wish – a reverent, grand and passionate narrative that shines on the great emotions of the world or a trivial, self- pleasing and disheartened tiny sentiment that focuses on private details. The moment that the veils fall one by one, the day of siege from all sides, when something of the world peeks out from the eternal fog, that is why I love Magritte . After things settle, everything is once again a game. Only time is the true fog, just as it is for me.” Li Qing (Read more)
Excerpt from the artist statement: “My Finding Differences series seems to have also started with this evasive narrative aspect. People who have played this before know that it is only a game, nothing more than a way to pass the time. My recent work has also made me feel as if I am a game creator, using an ancient labor method to painstakingly create a simple game. I would rather encounter those people who like to compare reality – they’re willing to view these pictures as a comic with only two frames, linking together different stories, or to view them as a pair of mutually verifying and disputing photographs, and to try to figure out which one is more believable – I want to encounter them like the hunter wants to encounter his prey, even placing the thoughts I have the moment that they fall into the trap as one of my greatest joys. The picture is a lens. It is not about imitation, but refraction. Within it you can see what you wish – a reverent, grand and passionate narrative that shines on the great emotions of the world or a trivial, self- pleasing and disheartened tiny sentiment that focuses on private details. The moment that the veils fall one by one, the day of siege from all sides, when something of the world peeks out from the eternal fog, that is why I love Magritte . After things settle, everything is once again a game. Only time is the true fog, just as it is for me.” Li Qing< ><-->
Upon returning to New York after her first visit to China, Soraya Broukhim provides a review of Wang Qingsong’s "When World's Collide" exhibition of photographs and videos at ICP. (Read more)
Upon returning to New York after her first visit to China, Soraya Broukhim provides a review of Wang Qingsong’s "When World's Collide" exhibition of photographs and videos at ICP. (Read more)
Li Qing at HanartTZ, Hong Kong
Until June 6
HanartTZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Young Hangzhou based painter Li Qing provides new diptychs for this small gallery exhibition, that follows on the heels of a major retrospective-like show at Iberia Art Center in Beijing last year. As a Masters graduate from the painting department of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, he has been greatly influenced by the multimedia , including the recognized artist Qiu Zhijie. The content of his works are inspired by scenes from daily life that are merely a systematic tool of his artistic narrative. In his “Finding Differences” series, the artist thinks of his creations as a game where the viewer compares various details of the composition to find dissimilarities, thus paying greater attention to the content and later to the greater narrative of his image.
Excerpt from the artist statement: “My Finding Differences series seems to have also started with this evasive narrative aspect. People who have played this before know that it is only a game, nothing more than a way to pass the time. My recent work has also made me feel as if I am a game creator, using an ancient labor method to painstakingly create a simple game. I would rather encounter those people who like to compare reality – they’re willing to view these pictures as a comic with only two frames, linking together different stories, or to view them as a pair of mutually verifying and disputing photographs, and to try to figure out which one is more believable – I want to encounter them like the hunter wants to encounter his prey, even placing the thoughts I have the moment that they fall into the trap as one of my greatest joys. The picture is a lens. It is not about imitation, but refraction. Within it you can see what you wish – a reverent, grand and passionate narrative that shines on the great emotions of the world or a trivial, self- pleasing and disheartened tiny sentiment that focuses on private details. The moment that the veils fall one by one, the day of siege from all sides, when something of the world peeks out from the eternal fog, that is why I love Magritte . After things settle, everything is once again a game. Only time is the true fog, just as it is for me.” Li Qing (Read more)
Excerpt from the artist statement: “My Finding Differences series seems to have also started with this evasive narrative aspect. People who have played this before know that it is only a game, nothing more than a way to pass the time. My recent work has also made me feel as if I am a game creator, using an ancient labor method to painstakingly create a simple game. I would rather encounter those people who like to compare reality – they’re willing to view these pictures as a comic with only two frames, linking together different stories, or to view them as a pair of mutually verifying and disputing photographs, and to try to figure out which one is more believable – I want to encounter them like the hunter wants to encounter his prey, even placing the thoughts I have the moment that they fall into the trap as one of my greatest joys. The picture is a lens. It is not about imitation, but refraction. Within it you can see what you wish – a reverent, grand and passionate narrative that shines on the great emotions of the world or a trivial, self- pleasing and disheartened tiny sentiment that focuses on private details. The moment that the veils fall one by one, the day of siege from all sides, when something of the world peeks out from the eternal fog, that is why I love Magritte . After things settle, everything is once again a game. Only time is the true fog, just as it is for me.” Li Qing< ><-->