The
Gallery Gazetteer 
Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie resorted to painting the walls of Chambers
of Fine Art.
 |
| Qiu
Zhijie painting at the Chambers of Fine Art. Photo by Chambers
of Fine Art New York. |
Having opened on March 12, the exhibit "Mochou:
recent works by Qiu Zhijie" will be presented until May 9 at
the Chambers of Fine Art in Chelsea. The artist rose to an unusual
challenge. What do you do if your paintings are not available 24
hours before the opening of your exhibit? It happened to Qiu Zhijie
and the Chambers of Fine Art in New York last month.
After a successful exhibit at the Chambers of Fine
Art Bejing, Qiu Zhijie began to work on fourteen paintings using
ink and paper, to be presented for the American audience. The paintings
arrived at JFK on March 5. Unfortunately, on March 11, just one
day before the opening, the artwork had not yet been released by
US Customs. Most people will have cancelled the exhibition, but
that was not the case for Qiu Zhijie.
 |
| "Mochou:
Recent works by Qiu Zhijie." Photo by Chambers of Fine
Art New York. |
The 40 year old artist went straight to Chinatown,
bought some ink and brushes and started painting, following his
inspiration and thoughts. Beginning March 11 at 3:00 pm, he painted
for twenty hours without sleeping. On March 12 at 6:00 pm, for the
opening reception, the walls of the gallery were entirely covered
by contemporary and inventive drawings.
Painting directly on the walls offered to the artist
an incomparable freedom, and we can feel that freedom in Qiu Zhijie's
work. It seems that he expresses himself and all his imaginary ideas
on these walls without restraint. It is a very inspiring work. You
can recognize not only Chinese themes, but also intriguing ideas
and concepts. One is the hand of the artist's newborn daughter holding
an image of the world.
 |
| Qiu
Zhihie painting. Photo by Chambers of Fine Art New York. |
The name of the exhibit, "Mochou," come
from a famous Chinese legend: a young girl during the Qin dynasty
was so poor that she has to sell herself in order to pay for her
dad's funeral. Her unhappy marriage makes her commit suicide in
a lake, which became the Mochou Lake: a very popular tourist attraction
in Nanjing (situated in the south of China).
Qiu Zhijie is very popular in China and has worked with almost
all the tools and media available for an artist, from video to
calligraphy, sound installation and photography. He lives in China
and has exhibited since 1992 all over Asia, Europe and America.As
of this writing, the paintings are still at the airport. The creative
wall of Qiu Zhijie will be painted over on May 9. [Suzanne
Trouve Feff]
