Shen Qibin

People tend to view and interpret the world from a certain, somewhat narrow perspective that they are accustomed to, which gives rise to various illusions and misreading, deepening the estrangement between phenomenon and its nature. Fragmentary reality is destined to confine people's feeling and thoughts, making it impossible for them to recognize the intimate relationship between human beings and history, environment, survival, plight, death, thoughts and emotions.

Unnatural death takes place in our society everyday. However, more and more people tend to take it for granted as accidental news event. Under such a circumstance, what should an artist do? Should he act as an objective observer or should he conduct an in-depth survey and then share his thoughts from a broader perspective? The choice made by Qiu Zhijie is quite extraordinary. In his solo exhibition, Qiu Zhijie: Ataraxic of Zhuangzi - A Suicidology of The Nanjing Yangzi River Bridge , Qiu ingeniously combines his own understanding of traditional Chinese philosophy with his acute intrusion upon the reality, presenting us with a thought-provoking visual shock. To some extent, it is more an art event transcending regular thinking modes than an exhibition in the traditional sense.

Apparently, Qiu Zhijie is extraordinarily sensitive to things possessing special symbolic significance in a particular historical period. He has highlighted the political significance of those things through his unique artistic language. The spiritual plight, brought about by the conflict between the recessing value system of the era of collectivism and the emerging money-worship value system, is unfolded in a straightforward and yet somewhat absurd way. Qiu has adopted the word intrusion to describe such a process, which is more than appropriate. During the process, the patience, solicitude, and deep concerns he has shown as well as his attempts to search for spiritual salvation in the unworldly Taoist thoughts make a strong impression on us. It impels us to reconsider our responsibility to show concerns to the world and the possibilities of contemporary art.