Time as symbol of eternity
 
I found out that throughout a series of Qin Chong’s works in recent years on the one hand he confines his style by employing limited forms, such as using only paper, metal, beads or fabric as media; correspondingly the colors he choses are so minimal, basically just black and white, that I even suspect that in most, if not all of his works, colors don’t appear,  which definitely conveys a sense of formalism, or can be categorized as conceptual art. On the other hand, Qin Chong's intention is obviously not to publicize textures and colors, or by doing so, express his emotions. He does not identify himself with minimalism, nor is he satisfied with staying within the framework of conceptual art, which, by using limited medias and through devices including hand-painted paper works, attempts to emphasize and give prominence to a sense of psychological acuity, and then, through enhancing this form, deconstruct the work that has been materialized, so as to achieve the purpose of feeling the existence of time. As a result, Qin Chong's work give rise to an intriguing phenomenon, for example a subtle conflict between appearance and content. In my opinion, it is exactly such conflict that enables Qin to highlight the sacred sense of time. From one perspective, I even think that time happens to be the underlying theme of his works. However, time in his works is not invisible, but has been turned into a tangible visual concept of space, by subverting the materialized form of the works and extending the social interpretation in such subversion. Qin's work is a dual expression, in terms of vision and space, of the sacred concept of time. Originally, from the perspective of logic of the modern art development, Qin seems to be deconstructing the planar concept in modern doctrine, once emphasized by Greenberg, to create a quiet riot of time. But this is only an illusion. Qin is not engaged in theoretical research and to him, the plane just constitutes a kind of visual illusion. In such illusion, the riot of time no longer holds an abstract meaning. On the contrary, time has become logic of development, which points to eternality through a series of constant self-denials.
 
"United Nations Black and White" is an installation that consists of a camouflage opening ceremony and the presence of the artist himself among other participants in the ceremony. The United Nations have always been a symbol of world order in international politics and the authority to regulate the interests of different countries since World War II. However, for more than half a century, practices of United Nations have not corresponded with their purpose. The international organization located in New York is simply a stage for the rally of great powers to voice their interests as well as quarrel endlessly among themselves trying to balance their respective interests in futile. The artist seems to have felt the noisy characteristics of the United Nations in reality and tried to purify the political forum to reach kind of consensus by reducing the colors to merely black and white. In this virtual opening ceremony, the United Nations becomes target of mockery, and art becomes a constant sliding signifier chain; in the end, only the artist himself and other participants present in the scene are really existing. As a result, the more “cutie” the participants are dressed, the more ironic the whole event seems, and the more people would talk about it. The final details thus fall in place and the whole piece of work is completed with the spectators’s involvement.
 
The composition of "Birthday" is just the opposite to "United Nations Black and White". A thick pile of paper was piled up and formed a volume that is beautiful in itself. The artist carefully and thoughtfully burnt the volume into another volume, or removed a corner to make a triangle form, or caved a half-circle shape in the middle of the volume. The volumes not only contradict each other in texture, but also support each other in similar size, so as to achieve a perfect form of appearance. However, the title "Birthday" serves to remind us of the disappearance and surge of complicated feelings brought about by various shapes and textures. Such feelings become the form of floating time while watching the art works and with the viewer’s identification with them, thus endows the spectator’s strength to break away and turns the intangible time into space.
 
"Up to the limit" is an art work about time. On the surface, this art work tests people’s tolerance of extreme tedium of endless routine labor and unbearably apathic physical space where one can hardly stay long. But the concept of time emerges during the process of close references with the formation of the work; moreover, a hidden craziness opposite to the apathy of the work sharply stabs into the viewers’ eyes and further thrusts into their hearts; and it is exactly during the process of watching, that time settles down and achieves its existence.
 
Interestingly, with all his works of installation and field art, Qin Chong’s original intent is actually to express linear rhythm on paper. In the series "Whatever" Qin uses ink lines repeatedly in an attempt to achieve Greenberg’s concept of plane through layers and criss-cross of lines in a simple and concise way. However, this time Qin is no longer attached to the classical modernist tradition of the West, but turns to his motherland China for inspirations, that really touch his soul. In fact, the historical sentiments of an east born artist is manifest in his "Black Square" series, as is shown by the diversity, the exploration of linear elements, the fascination with traces of paper folding and piling, the creation of non-descriptive tiny space resulted from penetration of the paper surface. I believe his nostalgia with Chinese culture is related to his long period of art study tour in Europe. Like Lin Feng-mian, a Cantonese artist at the beginning of last century, who suddenly realized the uniqueness of oriental cultural tradition during his stay in France. Qin also, in the Western context, discovered a source of culture that is fundamentally different from its Western counterpart. This cultural concept, when embedded in the context of modernist art, forged a powerful impact and made Qin see the possibility of a departure from the West. The series "Whatever" both in terms of form and concept is consistent with his “Black Square" series, as well as the experiments of dynamic lines in an attempt to visually pursue the celestial phenomena from the early 1990’s until today. "Whatever" is also a conceptual summary of a collection of the artist's past experiences. In the expression of time in an anti-concept logic, he returns to plane and depiction, but this time the return is only superficial and the nature inside is still subversion, which is no longer expressed by plane and the significance of style no longer remains at a primary level of peculiar appearance. Therefore Qin suddenly turns into a visual philosopher, watching through a vision that can’t be encapsulated by language and giving his own answers to life, emotions and even the essence of art per se. For these answers, Qin has made a loy of  preparation and practiced for many years. When he finally reaches a complicated state of being "indifferent", which means both "in" and "different", art is no longer art per se, but rather part of life that gains its independence from life; at this time, Qin becomes the guardian of this independent existence. He lives with his works and commutes between "in" and “different”. He and his works fulfill each other. In such dual fulfillments, subversion becomes noise while time stands out against the background of noise and becomes the symbol of eternity.
 
Yang Xiaoyan
28th,Feb., 2010, Vancouver