Meet Qiuxiang Liu

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Qiuxiang Liu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Qiuxiang, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

Art and painting continuously nurturing my bright and optimistic side. One of my favourite tutor asked in a philosophy lecture: do you think you are a borned painter? I think I was born to paint. Because I have to do it, and it makes me feel that I have survived from life. Without it, I would feel that I have nothing in life. In addition, the love and support from family and friends is also important.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a painter (b. 1986. China) currently based in London. My practice includes painting, sculpture, performance, installation, and poetry. I delve into the motif of the bodyscape with an erotic, playful and intense approach, exploring the relationship between the landscape (the land) and the female body (myself), engaging with the bodily materiality and constructing cross-cultural narratives of gender and identity fluidity.

Since moving abroad, I feel a deeper connection to my homeland, which led me to reflect on the relationship between my own body and the land. This relationship is elusive but in a way that connects myself and the world within a state of contemplative rapture. For this reason, I am trying to carry a dialogue between the landscape and the female body into my visual language, presenting a fleshed landscape formed by intertwined and overlapping bodies. In my practice, the bodies entangled with ambitious lines, wild drips, faceless, amorphous shapes, and boneless, established gender-blurred, fleshed, adventured body landscapes.

Meanwhile, I was born and raised in China, living in a patriarchal society where women are oppressed and objectified. I strive to showcase the unseen inner force of the female body, exploring its mysterious and adventurous qualities to break the gender constraints imposed on women by societal norms in a patriarchal society. Through depicting the complex and profound emotions beneath the skin and blood vessels—love, grief, blood, and tears—to make the invisible visible.

Furthermore, I aim to integrate traditional art with contemporary practices, as well as merge philosophical and critical theory, to question how to transform the body forms in contemporary painting into new painting forms. The ultimate goal is to capture the essence of new ways of painting under the discourse of the female gaze.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Passion, love, and action are three important qualities in my artistic journey. I would like to say, if something keeps popping up in your mind, don’t just stay thinking about it, take action, and do it!

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

Studying at the Royal College of Art has been the best choice in my artistic journey. I am grateful for the past two years of studying art philosophy under the guidance of my mentor Jonathan Miles, whose teachings have greatly helped broaden my horizons and expand my thinking. Of course, reading and self-study have always played a significant role in advancing and developing my practice.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: rainytongart
• Youtube: RainyTong

Image Credits

Image credits by artist.