Qiu Anxiong: Nostalgia

SYDNEY. 28 JANUARY – 28 FEBRUARY 2009.

In Shanghai-based artist Qiu Anxiong‘s new series of work Nostalgia, the artist moves fluidly between his black and white ink-wash sketches in a style recalling traditional scroll painting, and the use of new media such as animation, real time video and installation. Nostalgia illustrates the passing of time against the frenetic movements of the contemporary world, heightening our sense of yearning for time past. Nostalgia illuminates the plight of the human condition in the characteristically meditative quality of the artist’s work.

Qiu’s work will also be presented at an off-site venue in Haymarket, as part of Cinema Alley, Gallery 4A’s street-cinema project for next year. Scheduled for screening is Qiu’s critically acclaimed The New Sutra of the Mountains and the Oceans, a mythological depiction of the evolution of the industrial world. Based on the ancient Chinese manuscript, Classic of the Seas and Mountains, the animation consists of 6000 of Qiu’s own original ink-wash drawings, many of which ominously depict the invasion of idyllic villages by high-rises and monstrous machinery. Screened for the first time in Australia, the work was previously exhibited at the Shanghai Biennale to wide appeal and critical success.

Qiu Anxiong was born in Sichuan, the south-western region of China in 1972. He currently lives and works in Shangai. Graduating from the Sichuan Art Academy in 1994, the artist undertook further training at the University of Kunsthochschule, Kassel, Germany in 2003. Qiu has had solo exhibitions both in his native China and in Switzerland and Japan. In 2007 alone, he was selected to participate in group exhibitions at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, Switzerland, the Museum of Modern Art in Oslo, Noga Gallery in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and Yokohoma Zaim Art Centre, Japan and the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide. In 2006, he was awarded an Honourable Mention at the biannual Chinese Contemporary Art Awards placing him among the ranks of artists such as Cao Fei and Zheng Guogu.

Qiu Anxiong: Nostalgia is an official event of the 2009 City of Sydney Chinese New Year Festival. This project has been made possible by the generous support of Geoff and Vicki Ainsworth, ARTCELL and Gary Carsley.

Header image: Qiu Anxiong, Nostalgia, six channel digital video installation with 5.1 surround sound. Soundtrack: Ou Bo.