Guo Xi, the artist of Northern Song Dynasty pnce said, “Living in Qiu Garden to preserve the nature” was the first reason for “gentlemen to love landscape”, and “l(fā)iving in Qiu Garden” is a state of life and spirit pursued by the ancient Chinese sages and gentlemen, Qiu Ting’s creation of landscape painting is with the pursuit of distant and transcendental aesthetics, “Qiu Garden” is the home of brush and ink, which is built by the artist for the “l(fā)eisurely travelling” of the spirit. On July 5, 2015, “Living in Qiu Garden to Preserve the Nature” Qiu Ting’s Exhibition of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy was unveiled at Shangdong Dacheng Art Museum, the exhibition is jointly hosted by the Chinese Painting School, CAFA, Propaganda Department of Jinan Municipal Party Committee, Jinan Culture, Radio and Television, Press and Publication Bureau, Jinan Federation of Literature and Art Circles, and Jinan Artists Association, organized by Dacheng Art Museum. More than 90 artists from the colleges and universities of art and art institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Shandong attended the opening ceremony.

“Living in Qiu Garden to preserve nature” is the theme of the exhibition which has continued for more than one decade by Qiu Ting, and once held in the Art Museum of Shenzhen Academy in 2004 and Baiyaxuan in 798 Art Zone in 2011, the exhibition is the continuation and in-depth presentation of the theme of “Living in Qiu Garden to preserve nature”, to present more than 80 selected landscape paintings and calligraphy, created in recent years, among these are several grand works which are more than 10 meters long which are breathtaking, in addition, it also features the works of the animal theme, therefore, it can be called the most comprehensive presentation of Qiu Ting’s art.

At 3:00 pm, the exhibition was unveiled along with a musician playing two of Bach’s cello compositions and Zhou Xue, winner of the Golden Microphone hosted the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Ling Anzhong, Deputy Minister of the Propaganda Department of Jinan Municipal Party Committee, and Wang Shaojun, Deputy Party Secretary of CAFA respectively gave a speech. Qiu Ting’s teacher Prof. Zhuo Hejun, from the China Academy of Art, doctoral tutor, also made a special visit to congratulate the artist from Hangzhou. Chen Ping, Dean of Chinese Painting School, CAFA addressed the opening ceremony and conscientiously evaluated Qiu Ting’s teaching which is created diligently and was a tolerant, literati landscape painter.

Qiu Ting successively studied in the China Academy of Art and the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University, learnt from Zhuo Hejun, Zhang Ding, etc., and graduated as the first doctoral in Chinese painting. On the basis of the language and spirit of traditional landscape painting, Qiu Ting’s works integrate with contemporary art thoughts and problem consciousness which both containa relaxed and elegant ancient literati breath which embody the contemporary cultural thinking and position. His works apply exquisite brush and ink strokes, containing both delicate small works, as well as large-scale ones. The exhibition features more than 80 works of ink painting, among them are more than dozens of landscape paintings including the 12-meter-long “Water Spring Garden”, “Outside the Mountain - In the Mountain”, “Lake Villa in The Comfortable Early Summer”. Although the majority of Qiu Ting’s works are landscape paintings, he has never restricted his theme in painting, instead traveling and sketching together with students twice a year and he likes to give special attention to the small animals in the country and the exhibition features a series of works themed on pigs.

Viewing Qiu Ting’s landscape, people always sigh because of the rich traditional spirit and the pursuit of landscape aesthetics shown in the paintings, working towards the pursuit of landscape aesthetics, Qiu Ting said he appreciated the state of “l(fā)iving in Qiu Garden to preserve nature” in the description of Guo Xi, who lived in the North Song Dynasty. When he was interviewed by CAFA ART INFO, he said landscape was a form of introverted feeling that pursues the inherent state and order of people and nature, landscape painting was meteorological and contains rich spiritual resources, which he created, he could also return to an inward transcendental realm, to express spiritual freedom in the current prosperous and roaring system. It is also his understanding of himself as “Living in Qiu Garden to preserve nature”.

The exhibition will continue to July 14.

Text and photo by Zhang Wenzhi/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO