Qiu Zhijie 邱志杰
Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
29 October 2022 to 18 February 2023
Qiu Zhijie, Three Flat-Topped Hills: At Dusk (detail), 2022. Ink on paper. Courtesy the artist.
Qiu Zhijie, The Art of War (detail), 2022, ink on paper scroll. View under UV light. Courtesy the artist and Talbot Rice Gallery.
Qiu Zhijie, Installation view of the exhibition, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Talbot Rice Gallery.
Qiu Zhijie, Evolution Series: Lover (detail), 2016. Paper relief. Installation view of the exhibition, Talbot Rice Gallery, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Talbot Rice Gallery.
This immersive showcase of the art of Zhangzhou-born artist, Qiu Zhijie 邱志杰 (b. 1969), encompasses a new series of ink-paintings and an atmospheric installation that evokes the spirit of an archaeological excavation. Qiu’s artistic repertoire earned him worldwide recognition for his groundbreaking concept and practice of “total art”, which merges diverse cultures and knowledge systems to propose alternative worldviews.
The exhibition features a series of pits embedded with paper reliefs, softly illuminated by a solitary light bulb, transforming the gallery floor into an immersive archaeological site. Qiu refers to this as a “palaeontological dig and a time machine of humanity”. Padding allows for the transformation of three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional forms, effectively transmuting the world into text.
This long-awaited exhibition by Qiu Zhijie in the UK arrives at a critical moment, coinciding with a rapidly evolving and fractured geopolitical landscape. Against this backdrop, Qiu’s expansive maps, infused with both logical indicators of topography and illogical projections of fantasy, surreal linguistic play and philosophical provocations, embody an intricately interwoven, complex and contradictory world.
Learn more:
University of Edinburgh. “Talbot Rice Gallery Exhibitions | Qiu Zhijie | Edinburgh College of Art.” 2022, https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/event/talbot-rice-gallery-exhibitions-qiu-zhijie.(No longer available)