HQW

Hu Qinwu was born in Shandong, China in 1969. He works in Beijing as a painter, photographer and printmaker. qualifications graduate from the Oil Painting Department, Taian Normal Academy, Shandong, 1990; graduate from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, 2008. solo exhibitions 2009 Illumination, China Art Projects in Quac Art Space, Beijing. 2008 Phantasms, China Art Projects in Two Lines Galley, Beijing. selected group exhibitions 2009 Beautiful Lines Exhibition, Stella Downer Gallery, Sydney; International Artists Photograph Group Exhibition, Quac Art Space, Beijing; Return to the Modern - 09 Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition, West Lake Art Muesum, Zhejiang. 2008 Clue: Abstract Works Exhibition, Aura Gallery, Beijing; Future Sky - Chinese Young Contemporary Artist Works Selection Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing; Expand and Synthesize, China Contemporary Oil Painting Research, National Art Museum of China; Echo, China Central Academy of Fine Arts; Painting and Handwork Third Exhibition, Pifo New Art Gallery, Beijing; New Master - the Contemporary Strength of Chinese Abstraction, Jin Du Art Space, Beijing; Towards the Post-Abstract, Pifo New Art Gallery, Beijing; POP - Beijing & New York Artists Work Group Exhibition, Pickled Art Center, Beijing; Exist & Present - Three Artists Group Show, Quac Art Space, Beijing; September - Photograph Group Show, 3 Space, Beijing; C.A.P. Launch, Two Lines Space, Beijing; Work on Paper exhibition, Two Lines Gallery, Beijing. 2007 Fourth Studios Open Day, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Colour, 9 Person Contemporary Art Fair, BIAC Art Space, Beijing. 2003 Parallel Feeling and Testing, Second Small Painting Exhibition, Beijing International Arts Center Gallery, Shandong, China. prizes and awards excellence award, Second Small Painting Exhibition, 2003; best innovative idea prize, Central Academy of Fine Arts, 2007; First Prize, Marie's Art Scholarship, 2008. collections C.A.P. Art Collection; Crown Casino/Hotel, Macau; Opposite House Hotel, Beijing; Onemoon Collection, USA. Private collections in China, Australia and England.

Hu Qinwu talks carefully, in measured tones, when asked about his practice.
He is not quick to divulge the meaning of his work with conversation, preferring that the paintings speak for themselves.
His works are richly textured and layered. Bold red canvases reveal dark shadows beneath, and expansive black pieces give way to a deep glow. A myriad of seemingly organised dots, lines and monochromatic colour traverse the surface of each work. There are no symbols or images, there are no focal points or centre, the works have an over-all quality suggesting infinity, continuity and harmony. They reveal the world as Hu interprets his experiences – his mosaic metaphor suggests that our perceptions of reality are made up of taking individual lines and divisions and putting them together to form a whole.
The process of layering marks is a critical element of his work. It is like going on a journey he says, and not unlike a pilgrim arriving at the holy site, Hu feels a sense of spiritual satisfaction on the completion of a work. Canvases are covered, spread, poured with paint; scraped, smoothed, sanded back; dotted, spotted and touched. The process is the motivation, not the endpoint, and the order comes about without plan. ‘I have no blueprint’, he reminds us. Working with dot marks is an exercise in shared control – the marks generate a rhythm and regularity that could continue even beyond the canvas. He revels in being able to control the process but not the outcome. He draws an analogy with himself, “If I plot myself on a graph, I know what has been before, but not what will be. I can predict trends, but I have no control over where the graph will rise or fall in the future”.
Hu believes paintings should speak of what is inside, not out. Much of his work is a dialogue of oppositions – day and night, space and fullness, control and release. In his notebook writings (parts of which are included in this catalogue) he describes his works as microcosms, explaining that there is no middle dot, there is no centre – but there is harmony. For him, this harmony is an open and unlimited feeling – like the Buddhist idea of ‘kong’, or empty space.
He accepts that his paintings do not fall into a traditional Chinese aesthetic, but he is resistant to be categorised as either Chinese or modern, abstract or other. To refuse definition is his prerogative. “I have my own language”, he remarks.
Hu continues, discussing the changeability of nature, but is momentarily interrupted – the door opens, and sunlight floods into his studio.
Sophie McKinnon, interview with Hu Qinwu took place in his studio, 9 March 2009.

Walking into Hu Qinwus studio at Bei Gao on the north east edge of Beijing is an experience I have not had since my first visits to the Yuanming yuan and East Village arts settlements in China in the early nineties. At that time a gritty determination and very necessary passion was needed by artists if he or she was to survive the social and political pressure that was then still greatly in evidence in China after 1989. The Social Cynicism and Political Pop styles were in full flight and have gone on to become the basis of the astounding money making phenomena contemporary Chinese art has become today. The Chinese art scene has changed greatly in the few short years since then and a huge variety of practice and medium is now tolerated and encouraged in the red hot international art scene and booming market economy in which China has become a major player.

Hu Qinwu would be called an abstract artist C and in Beijing abstraction is still not the dominant artist style, the Paul Klee, statement The visible world is only an isolated example in art, there are many hidden realities beneath, comes to mind as I sit in his studio and contemplate his astoundingly beautifully works. While abstraction, unlike in the west, is far from mature in China it has been growing slowly since its emergence, principally in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the late 80,s by such artists as Ding Yi and Shen Fan. In his paper and canvas Hu Qinwu lays down the elements of mark making with great assurance and sensitivityC on first appearance the works appear to be minimal and monochrome but on careful viewing they are filled with elaborate and sophisticated variations of colour, shape and texture. He uses a variety of mediums, ink, tempera, acrylic and oil, all seem to melt into meditations of texture and colour C every mark and subtle shade is of paramount importance. His canvases in particular are pared down to quiet and elegant simplicity and yet exhibit an extraordinary sophistication in his search for a link between form and colour. Hu Qingwus large and powerful inks and multi media works on paper have a strength and authority that can only come from a knowledge of Chinese ink work which he studied at an early age, the myriad patterns of dots and marks vibrate across rich grounds of black and grey C a wonderful play on both strength and subtly.

I experience a quiet, transcendental emotional experience when contemplating the works of Hu Qinwu

HQW07	HQW08	HQW09