Zhou Qian’s “Five Elements”

Dr. Tianlong Jiao Curator, Asian Art Department, Denver Art Museum

In traditional Chinese philosophy, a core concept to interpret the creation and changes of the universe is the interrelated five elements: Gold (jin), wood (mu), water (shui), fire (huo), and earth (tu). Artist Zhou Qian created an artistic reflection of this complex philosophical thinking by using her unique combination of calligraphy and painting. These six works were created for the Ode to Nature (Wu Xing Song), a unique theatrical odyssey of Chinese art and music for the world premier held at the University of Denver on October 10-11, 2016.  Using color and ink, each character of these five elements is presented in an abstract format with a fitting color background.  One of the works combines all these five elements together.

As one of the top ten art museums in the United States, Denver Art Museum has a century long history of collecting and presenting Chinese arts. The Chinese collection covers more than 5000 years of Chinese history.  The museum’s collection of contemporary Chinese arts is among the best in the United States. Zhou Qian’s “Five Elements” is an excellent addition to this important collection.

Zhou Qian's art: The invisible energy within sparkling lights and voice of colors

Jean Digne President, Montparnasse Museum, Paris

At the crossroads of sparkling lights, where we listen to the voice of colors that ZHOU Qian made to sing, our heart is reassured, that our planet exists here and simultaneously elsewhere. Happily imprisoned we are in this comforting atmosphere that enlightens and protects us, and let its vibration whisper to us, and its eruption awaken and invite us to chase that invisible energy that nourish our wisdom and fulfill our vision. Her hand has painted the paths of well-being, where forms reminisce of nature without mimicking it. Let us get away from the conventional paths and explore this blooming tension of elegance.

Jean Digne Président, du Musée du Montparnasse, Pairs   

Au carrefour des éclats de lumières, à l’écoute des couleurs de ce monde que fait chanter ZHOU Qian, nous voila rassurés au cœur cette planète qui est  là et ailleurs. Nous sommes les heureux prisonniers de cette atmosphère apaisante, lucide et protectrice. Ces vibrations  nous parlent,  ces éclats  nous éveillent et fascinés nous cherchons cette énergie invisible qui  nourrit notre sagesse et remplit notre vision. La main a dessiné ces chemins du bien être, où les formes rappellent la nature sans vouloir l’imiter, laissons nous naviguer dans cette floraison  de tensions d’élégance à l’abri des sentiers convenus.         

Zhou Qian's art is a collaboration between the artist and her medium

David Norman Art advisor and specialist in the field of Impressionist & Modern Art (former Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s North American), New York

Zhou Qian's art is the product of collaboration. But this is not a collaboration in the familiar sense of the word as the coordination of efforts by two individuals. Instead, it is a collaboration between the artist and her medium; black ink & brush and acrylics on paper. After taking the first, decisive step of laying down her initial strokes, Qian turns from being the creator to the spectator. She watches as the paper absorbs the watery pigments, how the inks spread, pool and form tide lines and rivulets. She understands that while she determines the starting point, the medium, activated by its contact with the paper, can never be fully controlled and must have a say. As the ink settles in, it takes on forms that can operate simultaneously on varying scales, from the intimate to the expansive. The suggestions made by the shapes and movements can range from small floral elements to expansive landscapes and even suggestions of the human body. The liquid, fugitive nature of the medium conveys the sensations of air, wind and sea, and their atmospheric effects of temperature and humidity. Where the paint fails to (or perhaps refuses to) go, it leaves pristine spaces of untouched paper. In the way ancient Chinese scroll painters used the unpainted areas to impart balance and harmony within the composition, Qian's negative spaces are also a necessary component in making her pictures complete. The pristine white of the paper is an integral color and the untouched areas are not an absence of form, but forms in and of themselves.

What happens next is that she listens to and intuits what the composition needs next: a sweep of purple, blue, red or green to create blossoms of colors. Then, perhaps more textured touches and flecks of gold and silver pigments laden with glittering highlights to call the eye back from the watery depths to the surface. In some cases, strong horizontal lines of black referencing calligraphic texts demand their way onto the paper to impart structure and narrative. It's done when Qian knows it's done. When one more mark would upset the balance and be one too many. With this respect, time may also be seen as her partner because it is only over time that the artist and the artwork agree on its endpoint.

The result of her process is a luminous body of work that recalls its ancient Chinese origins as well as lives within the world of contemporary abstraction.