Portals to The Past
Qian Qian
2nd May – 1st June 2024
PV 2nd May 18:00 – 20:00
Qian Qian, In A Greenhouse Somewhere / 某处的日光棚, 2024
56 x 76cm, Mixed media on archival board
Lychee One is delighted to present ‘Portals to The Past’, the first solo exhibition in our space by Chinese-born artist Qian Qian. This exhibition advances Qian’s artistic explorations over the past five years, intertwining the realms of technology with mythology, the material with the spiritual, and the tangible with the transcendent. In addition to her latest watercolours on paper, the exhibition also features her first attempt at presenting oil paintings on canvas, alongside a sculptural installation piece titled Form and Emptiness.
For Qian, art acts as a conduit for her creative world-building, probing the layers veiled beneath the exterior of phenomena. Her watercolours, celebrated for their delicate complexity, not only capture abstract sensations of luminous colours and swirls but also discern the nuanced bodily imageries. Expanding on last year’s dual solo at the gallery, which delved into quantum consciousness and meditative introspection, the latest watercolour works (highlighted by Finitude Unchained In Late Spring Blossoms and Immortal Beloved) seize ephemeral moments of spiritual communion between the human and non-human protagonists, or even the presence of consciousness unbound by the physical, manifesting directly within space and time (In a Greenhouse Somewhere).
The visual core of these pieces draws from symbols endemic to the microcosms of electromagnetism and molecular biology, akin to micro-landscapes probing the harmony and chaos within this internal universe. Qian’s watercolour works summon the traditions of homo signorum medical illustrations, including the Inner Canon Diagrams, the Ashmole Manuscript, and even the whimsical fruit portraits by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. In contrast, her brand new oil paintings, such as the ‘Altar’ series seen in the show, resonate with the medieval concept of memento mori, a cornerstone in the tradition of still life.
Another oil painting series, ‘Portraits’, adapts techniques previously explored in her watercolor works that vividly capture the essence of the microcosmic world, now used to depict human figures as negative spaces, thus challenging the Western tradition of portrait painting.
Additionally, a sculptural installation piece titled Form and Emptiness brings to the forefront Qian’s recurring fascination with exoskeletal imagery, hinting at the enigmas inherent in classical still lifes – the deceptive nature of earthly existence and the ephemeral quality of material possessions.
In essence, ‘Portals to The Past’ experiments with moments of transformed states of mind. In the artist’s own words, each painting functions as a portal, inviting viewers who resonate with the painterly visions to engage in spiritual metamorphoses. Through each portal provided by the paintings, we venture into the liminal zone of our consciousness, touching base with our subconscious, or even the sentience of non- human entities. Moreover, these works reflect the artist’s ongoing pursuit of deconstructing and reconstructing our sense of time and space across diverse epistemologies, from the annals of Western science to Asian and other non-Western philosophies.
Text by Zian Chen
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Qian Qian (b.1990, China), graduated in 2018 from MFA Fine Art in Goldsmiths, University of London. Her past exhibitions include: Duo Solo “In Her Landscape”, Lychee One (2023); Solo “Metempsychosis”, Richard Saltoun Online Gallery (2023); DISEMBODIED, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles (2024); Ode to the Unexpected, Madein Gallery, Shanghai (2024); Come Closer, Indigo+Madder, London (2023); X Museum Triennial(2023); Mother Art Prize, Zabludowicz Collection (2023); “Embryos”, West Norwood Project Space (2020); Syncopes, Mimosa House (2021); FBA Futures, Mall Galleries (2019); Lodger, Westminster Library (2017); …And To Dust All Return, Unna Way, Huddersfield (2016). She is the recipient of the 2023 Mother Art Prize Online Award and was shortlisted for FBA Futures in 2019. Qian Qian now lives and works in London. Her works are included in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Collection, Marcelle Joseph Collection, Michael Weissman Collection and other collections.
“As a visual artist, poet and mother, I explore human spirituality and transcendence in the man- made technosphere and the wider natural world. Through paintings and interactive installations, I develop a narrative and aesthetic framework combining the two seemingly distinct spheres of mythology and science.
I create contemporary paintings of “ecomythticism” that delve into themes of chaos and control, consciousness and subconsciousness, constructed memory and mindfulness, interconnectedness, oneness, and touch on subjects such as transhumanism and cultural hybridity. Within my artistic repertoire, I draw from a diverse array of motifs, ranging from microscopic cells and intricate plant anatomy to expansive macroscopic galaxies and ethereal nebula clouds. I seamlessly incorporate sentient living beings alongside abstract vortexes, atoms, precise geometric forms, and symbolic imagery. I endeavor to elaborate in my works the perpetual state of flux – the fluid transmigration from fixed forms and materiality into energy, vibration or information.
Inspired by a fusion of esoteric historical works, with a particular emphasis on Zen Buddhism and alchemy, as well as modern philosophical concepts like Gaia theory, Roger Pensose’s quantum consciousness, Alan Watts’s Eastern philosophy, and Erik Davis’s insightful exploration of mysticism in the age of information presented in “TechGnosis,” I intricately develop a contemporary narrative that explores the realms of spiritual-material duality through my mythopoetic sci-fi imagery. By blending chaos and control, my works portray the tension between the ethereal and the tangible. ”
—Qianqian