Acrylic on canvas

80×155 cm. 31 1/2×61 in.

Signed, titled and dated in Chinese and located in English on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Private Collection, Asia

A Reverberating Ode to Homeland Roots
Qiu Anxiong's Abstract Landscapes

Born in Sichuan in 1972, Qiu Anxiong graduated with distinction from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1994. In 1998, he ventured to the Kunsthochschule Kassel in Germany. Returning to China in 2004, he began merging ink art, graphic painting, and video to explore historical and cultural themes and to reflect on the contemporary human being's living condition. His works have garnered numerous accolades, including the Chinese Contemporary Art Award Honorary Award (established by Uli Sigg in 1998, now the Sigg Award) in 2006, and the Annual Young Artist Award by Artron in 2007. Qiu has held solo exhibitions in the UK, France, Italy, the U.S. and Denmark, with works in prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford, and M+ in Hong Kong.

Echoes of Nostalgia: Dreamy Visions of Mountains and Rivers

Landscape was created in Kassel in 2004, marking the end of his six-year sojourn abroad. By then, the initial impact of Western thought had begun to wane, and the profound cultural differences prompted him to revisit Chinese traditions. This led to a series of paintings infused with ink-wash aesthetics, collectively titled Chinese Landscape, through which he expressed his inner vision of the East in abstract forms. The work presented here is a quintessential example, unfolding like a flowing scroll of homesickness.

"Sacred peaks, abundant grace; limpid wates, vaporous embrace."
—— Zhang Jiuling, poet of Tang Dynasty

In Landscape, Qiu Anxiong captures the essence of classical Chinese landscapes, conjuring the breathtaking vistas of his native Sichuan province as if glimpsed in a dream. With a deft hand, he employs thick, white pigments to generate the textured mountain surfaces, reminiscent of traditional ink painting. Delicate gray-green acrylics, applied with the lightness of ink, evoke Sichuan's misty, humid climate. Amidst the hazy obscurity, bold strokes of ochre and azure pierce the enveloping mist, resembling the distant peaks. The natural flow of paint mimics cascading waterfalls, while the muted palette and minimalist composition reflect the philospophy of Chinese aesthetics. This fusion of classical landscape sensibilities and the heightened contemporary abstraction conveys a profound longing for the ancestral lands and cultural roots that continue to inspire Qiu's visionary practice.

Price estimate:
HKD 50,000 – 80,000
USD 6,400 – 10,300