Who is Qiu Deshu?
Born in Shanghai in 1948, Deshu had an interesting childhood studying traditional ink painting and seal carving…as in stamps, of course. His career was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution and he was sent off to work in an uninspriring plastics factory.
After the Mao turmoil ended in the early 1980s Deshu developed his signature style of works called “fissuring” meaning tearing and change in Chinese as well as being a pictorial metaphor of Deshu’s life to date.
To create his paintings the artist applies vivid colours to rice paper which he tears up and then mounts the fragments to a base layer, often leaving space between to create “cracks” that he feels are symbolic of life’s journey.
Michael Goedhuis, collector, dealer and curator of the exhibition says: “This is the first time that Qiu Deshu’s work will be on display in the UK and we are incredibly excited… to be able to present a retrospective exhibition of Qiu Deshu… is an exceptional opportunity.”
This Qiu Deshu exhibition is being held in association with Coutts and is part of the 15th Asian Arts Festival taking place over 70 events and exhibitions across London from 1st to 10th November
16 Bloomfield Terrace, SW1W 8PG
020 7823 1395
11am until 5pm, Monday to Saturday
Free
Image credit:
Excerpt taken from Mountainscape (red)
2005
Ink, acrylic and rice paper on canvas
200 × 360cm