Qiu Anxiong

signed in Chinese and numbered 4/7

Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Private Asian Collection

Shanghai, Bizart Art Centre, Decoding Time-Shredding Narratives, 2005
London, Serpentine Gallery, Battersea Power Station, China Power Station, 2006
Shanghai, Museum of Contemporary Art, Restless, 2006
Hong Kong, Hanart TZ Gallery, Animation and Painting by Qiu Anxiong, 2006
Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery, Artists' Videos, 2006
Chengdu, Re-C Art Space, Qiu Anxiong, 17 October – 7 November, 2009, unpaginated
Copenhagen, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Utopia: Qiu Anxiong Solo Exhibition, 2009
Chicago, Hyde Park Art Center, Shangype!, 2009
Xi An, 1st Animation Fime Festival Xi An, 2012
Paris, Shadow Film Festival, 2012
New York, Metropolitan Art Museu, Ink Art, 2013

This work is generally in good condition. There is general wear on the DVD case. A crack is found near the lower right of the DVD cover. The DVD is in good condition.
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Of a new generation of artists, Qiu Anxiong’s focus lies in exploring the expressive possibilities of ink as a medium. His most notable work is the ink-animation series -The New Classic of Mountains and Oceans - which was fi rst conceived in 2006. Created a year prior to which is the lot on offer In the Sky. It is a milestone piece in the establishment of Qiu’s ink-animation practice. In its 8 minutes duration, the audience can already identify the themes and elements that have since become core to his subsequent works. Through reformations of the traditional ink wash technique and imagery, this early piece exemplifi es the artist’s attempt to portray the contemporary world; landscapes are no longer mere props for scene setting and forms are no longer limited to the figurative. The work displays modern elements of surrealism, abstractionism and expressionism, and it is certainly in this dialogue between the past and present that gives the work a distinctive temporal quality. It is thus fi tting to fi nd that Qiu’s works are also in the collection of Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Most artists’ answer to modernising ink wash, in other words, the question of instilling a contemporary sensibility to the medium, tends to be a strategic response. However, a fine balance between the classical and the new in Qiu’s works mark a difference from the rest. This perhaps is infl uenced by his study in Germany, which had broadened the artist’s horizons. As a result, his approach to ink wash not only retains traces of tradition but is also able to transcend the limit and aesthetics of the medium. In this sense, the artist’s choice in adopting ink-animation appears to be a natural progression. The decision reveals Qiu’s deep refl ections on the advancement of painting, or in the artist’s own words, it is with the aim of creating an ‘other medium’ that is distinct from painting and animation.