Chambers Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening on The Shape of Time by Qiu Zhijie. Born in Fujian Province in 1969, Qiu Zhijie was trained in printmaking at the Zhejiang Fine Arts Academy, Hangzhou from which he graduated in 1993. It was through works such as the photo-based Tattoo 1 and 11 and “Orchid Pavilion Preface” One Thousand Times (1986-1997), an investigation into the principles and meaning of calligraphy, both included in the influential exhibition Inside/Out in 1998, that his work first became familiar to US collectors.
What this sampling of his work did not reveal, however, was the broad range of his activities. Unlike many of his contemporaries who concentrated on one medium, whether painting, photography or work of a more conceptual, performance based nature, Qiu Zhijie has been active in photography, video, and installation art as well as in curating exhibitions and writing about contemporary Chinese art. Decidedly inter-disciplinary in his interests, he is one of the most challenging and unpredictable artists working in China today.
For the current exhibition the focus is on photo-based works that unite several aspects of his broad range of interests, calligraphy and photography. In Twenty Four Seasons, he used a flashlight to write the names of the traditional twenty–four seasonal markers (jieqi) in locations that range from Beijing to Macao and Dartington Hall in England. This striking series unites in meaningful way Qiu Zhijie’s activities as calligrapher, performance artist and photographer. In Galaxy of Names the light-writing technique is used to inscribe the names of individuals he has encountered in his life, intimates as well as mere acquaintances. As described in the introduction to the catalogue: “In Qiu Zhijie’s life, each person is a star. They shine and radiate with light, some longer than others, but eventually all of them will vanish. As the artist has said, “even a fixed star has a limited lifetime – it will disappear one day and become a black hole.”
*A catalog designed by the artist will be available.
前波画廊有幸举办邱志杰《时间的形状》摄影展览。邱志杰于1969年出生于福建省，在杭州的浙江美术学院（现中国美术学院）学习版画，并于1993年从该校毕业。在《纹身系列》以及《重复书写一千遍兰亭序》这类摄影作品中，他开始对于书法的原则和意义的进行深入研究。这两件作品都在1998年的具有重大影响的《艺术蜕变》中展出，从此他的作品开始为美国的艺术爱好者所熟悉。
但是这两件作品只是他的艺术创作的一部分样本，并没有揭示出他全部的艺术活动。和他同时代的把注意力完全集中在一种媒介的艺术家不同，邱志杰不断尝试绘画、摄影，甚至是更加具有观念性的媒介、和行为艺术。他一直活跃于摄影、录像以及装置艺术领域，甚至涉足于策展和写作，发表了许多有关中国当代艺术的文字。由于他的志趣具有跨学科的特征，他一直是当今在中国进行创作的最能引起争议和最难以捉摸的艺术家之一。
前波画廊这次举办的展览，着眼点在于以摄影为基础的作品，将他广泛的兴趣与各个不同方面联系在一起，比如书法和摄影的结合。在《二十四节气》中，他用手电筒在特定的地点写下了传统的二十四节气的名称，作品所跨越的地点也非常的广泛，从北京到曼谷，以及英格兰的达汀顿。这一令人印象深刻的系列作品用意味深远的方式，将邱志杰作为书法家、行为艺术家和摄影艺术家的活动联系起来。
在《星空》系列作品中，他将用光书写的技术巧妙地用于书写自己生活中的人们的名字，有的也许是多年老友，有的也许只是匆匆的相识。正如展览目录里所写的，“在邱志杰的生命中，每个人都是一颗星，发出的亮光，有长有短，但终究都会消逝。”也正如邱志杰自己所说：“即使是恒星，也有寿命，也会死去，成为黑洞。我的星空亦复如是。”
*前波画廊为此展览出版了展览图录。