- 73
Qiu Xiaofei
Estimate
450,000 - 650,000 RMB
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Description
- Qiu Xiaofei
- Daffodils
- oil on canvas
signed and titled in Chinese, dated 2005 on the revers, framed
Provenance
Private Collection, China
Exhibited
China, Beijng, China Central Academy of Fine Arts Display Gallery, Heilongjiang Box- Chou Xiaofei Solo Exhibition, 17th May – 20th May 2006
Condition
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Between 2003 and 2006, Qiu Xiaofei created a series of paintings and installations exploring the subject of memory which include the works he exhibited at his first solo show, Box of Heilongjiang. The works at this exhibition were the study and subsequent manifestation of the artist's own memories and personal experiences in his early days. The show turned out to be very influential in the forming of the group of post-1970s artists. It demonstrated how the new generation of artists coped with the society in a more individualistic manner and observed the world with a more subjective perspective which distinctly set them apart from the artists of the post-1950s/1960s.
Daffodils is representative of this particular period. The overall work gives a sense of the passing of time. The figure and the setting are shrouded in a fading tone of grey, while the daffodils the girl is watering are depicted in fresh green. The critic Pi Li mentions this in his article: "He (Qiu Xiaofei) focuses on how to rescue the desiccating things and give them life, rather than an accurate account of the past. By rescuing these dying things, instead of raising them from the dead, he refills them with colour. He opens up the door of memories for us with his talent in painting. With his brushstrokes, colours and use of light, Qiu Xiaofei saves our memories of a landscape, a scenery and figures from the impersonal machine in a photographer's hand.
In his recent solo exhibition, Repetition, Qiu Xiaofei referred to his works from this period as 'hallucinogenic'. Reflecting on them once again from a psychological perspective, he said: 'The way I worked at the time made anxiety disappear, calmed me down and built a barrier between me and reality. I could then study the tense relationship between the individual and social life.' This theme is consistent with his works on psychoanalysis and subconsciousness from the later stage which altogether attest to his present artistic aspiration.
As a prominent representative of post-1970s artists, Qiu Xiaofei's works have been exhibited at and collected by leading contemporary art institutions nationally and internationally since 2004. His works were shown at Tate Britain, Art Gallery Bern, ZKM Centre for Art and Media, Groninger Museum and UCCA Beijing. At the beginning of this year, Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai held the first solo exhibition on the artist on its first floor.
Daffodils is representative of this particular period. The overall work gives a sense of the passing of time. The figure and the setting are shrouded in a fading tone of grey, while the daffodils the girl is watering are depicted in fresh green. The critic Pi Li mentions this in his article: "He (Qiu Xiaofei) focuses on how to rescue the desiccating things and give them life, rather than an accurate account of the past. By rescuing these dying things, instead of raising them from the dead, he refills them with colour. He opens up the door of memories for us with his talent in painting. With his brushstrokes, colours and use of light, Qiu Xiaofei saves our memories of a landscape, a scenery and figures from the impersonal machine in a photographer's hand.
In his recent solo exhibition, Repetition, Qiu Xiaofei referred to his works from this period as 'hallucinogenic'. Reflecting on them once again from a psychological perspective, he said: 'The way I worked at the time made anxiety disappear, calmed me down and built a barrier between me and reality. I could then study the tense relationship between the individual and social life.' This theme is consistent with his works on psychoanalysis and subconsciousness from the later stage which altogether attest to his present artistic aspiration.
As a prominent representative of post-1970s artists, Qiu Xiaofei's works have been exhibited at and collected by leading contemporary art institutions nationally and internationally since 2004. His works were shown at Tate Britain, Art Gallery Bern, ZKM Centre for Art and Media, Groninger Museum and UCCA Beijing. At the beginning of this year, Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai held the first solo exhibition on the artist on its first floor.