Chinese artist uses calligraphy to convey his message
CAIRO: Documenting the development of civilizations can be achieved in various ways, but Chinese artist Qin Feng has chosen to accomplish this end through the art of calligraphy.
Feng’s Landscape of Civilization series (2003-2008) consists of 100 ink books (“album leaves ), and he has put together an installation under the same title at the Townhouse Gallery.
Born in Xinjiang, China in 1961, Qin Feng graduated from the Shandong Art Institute in 1985. While establishing himself as a prominent member of the Chinese avant-garde movement, Fang worked at a number of publishing houses, research institutes and universities until he moved to Berlin in 1996, where he taught at Berlin University of Art, HDK.
In 1997 he was invited by the city of Berlin to serve as curator for the Sino-German Cultural Exchange in acknowledgement of his involvement in the Chinese avant-garde movement.
From 2006 till the present he has been teaching and serving as graduate advisor at the Central Art Institute in Beijing for a few months per year while he resides in Boston.
Although the artist speaks little English, he explains, “Egypt and China are very much alike . very old, he says.
Holding a prominent position in the exhibit is a series of black and white installations. Many of them take the shape of a concertina, standing on the ground, covered in Arabic and Chinese calligraphy, as well as raindrops and various other symbols.
On the walls are simplistic pictures held to the wall by a single pin at the top center. On the white paper are black ink abstractions.
“In one painting you can look at it as a lion or a beast being caged . It’s almost as though you can look at it as a series of events or cultural developments to an extent, says Max Burner, a study abroad student at the American University in Cairo.
Another installation is a large, inverted pyramid coming out of the ground. It is made up of strings extending from a pit, which is a crater of black ink.
“The inverted pyramid in particular is probably the most interesting aspect of what I see here, says Brad Dall, a teacher at the American International School, “it has strength and durability which I like . it draws me and makes me feel good.
Visit this exhibition at the Town House Gallery of Contemporary Art, 10 Nabrawy St., off Champollion St., Downtown, Cairo.
