Li Qing: Reality and illusion coexist

Adjacent window Easter egg (antique wooden window, oil paint, plexiglass) Li Qing

A Bauhaus building symbolizing the cradle of modern design, a makeshift tent swaying with the lights of the sea, they are all "utopias" constructed by artist Li Qing. "Two worlds, a labyrinthine loop carrying a monumental grand narrative, a metaphor for the cradle of the Bauhaus and Kabakov's flight into space; another multi-layered space connected by arched doors, surging in the ruins, reflective landmark buildings, orange tents like lighthouses on the lawn and mirror images of reality running through it, which is also a typical feature of Li Qing's creation." Cui Cancan, the curator of the exhibition, said. From September 12 to October 27, the solo exhibition "Li Qing: Lighthouse and Cradle" presented by the Tang Contemporary Art Center in Beijing presents Li Qing's "Window", "Everyone Comes to Find Stubble", "Mutually Destroyed and Identical" and "Hangzhou House" and his new works in 2021. The exhibition uses "The Lighthouse and the Cradle" as a metaphor for the beginning and departure, ideal and arrival between several series, re-examining the story of Li Qing's works that has not been interrupted since 2005.

At the exhibition site, the carpets of the ruins of the old houses, the Hangzhou houses mixed with "European style", the faces in the magazine and the artist's journey, two huge works of abandoned refrigerators lead the audience's eyes to a roundabout and overlapping world. Images, symbols and reality are intertwined, hidden and alternating here, and these works also show the richness of Li Qing's creative clues and vision. His paintings are not limited to the limited space of the canvas, but constantly extend the external space and viewing forms of painting. In the "Everyone Comes to Find Stubble" series, Li Qing painted two similar paintings, slightly changed in subtleties, so that people's viewing methods changed from appreciation to repeated recognition, and let everyone unconsciously judge which one is closer to reality.

The "Windows" series combines paintings with old wooden window frames collected from demolition sites to express reflections on the rapid gentrification of China's large cities. Li Qing either paints on the back of the pane or embeds the painting on the surface of the actual space, so that the pane in the work has a sense of space that can be viewed through. In his works, it is often possible to see the combination of two scenes that cannot appear at the same time in real environments, and it is precisely in this practice that the artist emphasizes facts and contradictions to express the differences in economy and identity. "We have explored many cognitive paths in Li Qing's painting practice, and there is no contradiction between them, nor is there a fixed logic and order. This is not so much the construction of a painting cognitive system, but rather the dissociation of the various intellectual energies of painting itself. Art critic Lu Mingjun said.

Source: China Art News