Writing is one of the oldest creative behaviors of human civilization. When words are divorced from language, can it still exist as a visual experience? As one of the most representative artists of contemporary art in China, Qin Feng has been exploring the possibility of China's writing tradition in contemporary art for more than forty years. Since 1990s, he has continuously integrated calligraphy, ink painting and abstract painting, developed a creative language with both oriental spirit and international vision, and became one of the important artists in the process of internationalization of contemporary China art.

Tianqu Contemporary Art unveiled Qin Feng's solo exhibition "Unbounded Book" on July 10th. The exhibition is a collection of many important series, such as Scenery of Desire, Pragmatism Philosophy, A Round Place, and Living Like Years. It shows the artist's continuous thinking about writing, civilization and life experience, and it will last until August 15th.

Opening ceremony site

 

Artist Qin Feng.

The exhibition begins with the most important series "Desire and Scenery" in this exhibition-attracting all the audience's attention with huge pen and ink, round oil painting frames and red lines winding around the screen.

The huge black writing form in the center of the work is like a piece of writing that is being generated in the sky. They look like words, but there is no possibility of reading them. They are more like symbols left by a civilization. The red line is not the protagonist of the picture. It is always extremely thin and restrained, but it has strong structural strength.

China's traditional calligraphy and ink painting were originally attached to hand scrolls, album pages and vertical axes, which can be unfolded and rolled up, which is a time-sensitive way of watching; Western oil painting is a fixed window with a stable viewing boundary. Qin Feng deliberately kept this rectangular structure, allowing two kinds of art history to meet in the same work.

At the same time, writing is unwilling to be restricted by any cultural system by breaking through the boundary of "box" with brushwork. Therefore, it echoes the concept put forward by the exhibition "Boundless Book": Writing no longer belongs to any civilization, and it no longer serves reading, but is a cross-cultural spiritual behavior.

At the same time, writing is unwilling to be restricted by any cultural system by breaking through the boundary of "box" with brushwork. Therefore, it echoes the concept put forward by the exhibition "Boundless Book": Writing no longer belongs to any civilization, and it no longer serves reading, but is a cross-cultural spiritual behavior.

 

Qin Feng 秦風 Desire Scenery Series 欲望風景系列，2025，Acrylic and ink on linen paper丙烯、墨、亞麻紙，200 x 160 cm

 

Qin Feng 秦風 Desire Scenery Series 2025-10-9欲望風景系列2025-10-9，2025，Acrylic and ink on linen paper丙烯、墨、亞麻紙，200 x 160 cm

 

Qin Feng 秦風 Desire Scenery Series 2025-10-10欲望風景系列2025-10-10，2025，Acrylic and ink on linen paper丙烯、墨、亞麻紙，200 x 160 cm

Stepping into the center of the exhibition hall, a six-meter vertical shaft becomes the visual core of the whole space. The works hang down from the height and spread to the ground, breaking through the traditional way of viewing scrolls and making writing enter the real space from the plane; The folding fan device of Pragmatism Philosophy, which revolves around it, transforms the traditional writing medium in China into a space device by the natural opening and closing structure of the folding fan. Viewers walk between works, the viewing distance is constantly changing, and writing also extends from visual experience to physical experience.

中：Qin Feng 秦風 Desire Scenery Series 0417欲望風景系列 0417，2011，Acrylic and ink on antique-style xuan paper丙烯、墨、仿古宣，600 x 140 cm / 兩側扇子：Qin Feng 秦風 Pragmatist Philosophy V實用主義哲學之五，2016，Ink on xuan paper, wood宣紙、墨、木料，69 x 35 x 5 cm each

The series "Days Like Years" created in the early days has rarely been presented to the public in these years. The artist summed up this series as: "The days are long, the years are small, and history is the thread that we weave the future, which comes from the past. Every day spent seriously by mortals is casting a year for civilization that future generations look forward to. Qin Feng transformed his feelings about time into a kind of spiritual landscape that can be watched, and presented a sense of picture more than writing. Simple and interesting, reminiscent of the sketches of Badashan people.

The series "A Round Place" is one of the few small works in Qin Feng. This series mainly depicts the inscriptions on stone and stone, and each inscription is a fragment of history, which makes the viewer look at the distant time and space. These monuments and stones are lifeless dead things, but they go beyond the limits of individual life. This series of works confirms the evaluation of Qin Feng by Achilli Boniteau Oliwa, the founder of modernism: "Qin Feng's classicism style is based on his unprejudiced acceptance of various possibilities of life and all things in the universe.

 

Qin Feng 秦風 Days Like Years 度日如年系列，2008，Acrylic on canvas 布面丙烯，110 x 60 cm

 

Qin Feng 秦風 Round Sky and Square Earth Series天圓地方系列 ，2021，Acrylic and ink on rice paper皮紙、丙烯、墨，70 x 70 cm

From natural materials to civilized writing, from grand historical narration to individual life experience, these works together outline Qin Feng's creative track of expanding media boundaries and spiritual dimensions for more than forty years. Qin Feng has always been concerned not with calligraphy itself, but with the experience of human civilization carried by the act of writing. In his works, ink is neither words nor images, but a kind of existence between history, body and spirit.

"Boundless Book" finally invites the audience to rethink: When all languages lose their meaning, is there still a kind of writing that transcends words and can be perceived by everyone across culture, time and region?

 

Qin Feng 秦風Desire Scenery Series 欲望風景系列，2014，Acrylic and ink on canvas丙烯、墨、油畫布，100 x 80 cm

 

 

Qin Feng 秦風 Desire Scenery Series 0100 欲望風景系列 0100，2011，Ink, tea, coffee, and mulberry paper水墨，茶，咖啡，絲棉紙，151 x 95 cm

 

 

Qin Feng: Unbounded Books

Curator: Lin Binghan

Producer: Dr. Zhang Zhuyu

Exhibition time: July 10th to August 15th, 2026.

Venue: Tianqu Contemporary Art Central (2nd Floor, Phase II, New World Building, No.18 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong)

Opening hours: 10 AM-7 PM from Monday to Saturday, closed on Sundays and public holidays.

Qin Feng, an artist, was born in Xinjiang, China in 1961. He graduated from Shandong University of Arts and Crafts in 1985. In 1991, he founded the Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art (the first private art museum in China). In 1996, he was invited by the municipal government of Berlin as an art ambassador. He was a guest teacher at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Now he is a researcher of contemporary art at Harvard University. Known as "postmodern ink painting", his works are one of the contemporary artists with the largest collections in museums and art institutions.

Other exhibitions on display:

Dialogue in 2026 Century —— Special Exhibition of Wu Guanzhong and Qin Feng Art (Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, exhibition time lasts until August 31st, 2026).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qin Feng's Century Dialogue in this exhibition: About my personal art in the West, especially in Europe, I was with Mr. Wu at the same time, he was in Paris, and I was in Berlin. During this period, we had a brief contact and collision, but because we lived in the United States for a while later, we put it down and separated. So today, I have the opportunity to have a dialogue with Mr. Wu, which is just like two generations of colleagues meeting and communicating with each other in a special place like Beijing. Because of his death, I am doing such an activity here with a simple purpose, that is, I hope that artists' cultural and artistic activities and intellectuals should construct a possible and valuable aesthetic concept by means of dialogue and communication. I have stepped on the west for decades, and then stepped back, boldly making such an attempt and expansion of culture, art and public art, which has made indelible contributions in theory, teaching and social practice. I think this is my greatest contribution to society, and so does Mr. Wu. Therefore, from the future artistic expansion, the relationship with society will leave a method, a form and a brand-new medium for future generations. I think this is a valuable attempt. As far as this exhibition is concerned, as far as my personal works are concerned, I have continued to try some brand-new media in recent years. I will use the AI system and such a concept, an ancient memory and a carrier behind me, and also have a dialogue and exchange with today's people, today's cultural phenomena and some terms in the aesthetic field.

Highlights of previous exhibitions:

 

 

 

 

2025 Qin Feng 45 Art Exhibition

 

 

Looking inward in 2024-A Different Art Exhibition in Qin Feng

 

"Houjue" Exhibition of Shanghai Spring Art Museum in 2023

 

Art Basel Hong Kong 2022

 

"West Wind and East Water" solo exhibition of Beijing Four Seasons Hotel in 2021

 

2019 Milan Grand Palace Museum "God's Mourning" Exhibition

 

2017 Solo Exhibition of "Encountering Angels" in St. Catalina Cathedral in Hamburg, Germany

 

"Venice Architecture Biennale Qin Feng Special Exhibition" 2016 (Venice)

Main solo exhibition:

2025 Qin Feng /45 Art Exhibition, Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China. 

Looking inward in 2024-Different Qin Feng, Yuandian Art Museum, Beijing, China.

2024 Ink Painting and China Performance: Qin Feng-Zhang Fangbai Double Exhibition, Tianqu Contemporary Art Central, Hongkong, China.

2023 Qin Feng: Houjue, Spring Art Museum, Shanghai, China.

Art Basel Hong Kong 2022, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, Hong Kong, China.

2021 West Wind and East Water-Qin Feng Solo Exhibition, Fantasy Art Center, Beijing, China.

 

2019 Ed Moses & Qin Feng, BlainlSouthern, London, UK.

2018 Zero Boundary, Stanford University Art Center, California, USA.

2017 Encounter Angel-Qin Feng Solo Exhibition, St Catherine's Cathedral, Hamburg, Germany.

2017 Christie's Shanghai Special Exhibition, Shanghai, China.

2016 Windward: Qin Feng Invited Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy. 2015 Landscape Society and Desire Scenery, Basel Art Center, Switzerland, Germany

2015 Mo Bian: Qin Feng's solo exhibition, Saint urban Museum of Contemporary Art, Lucerne, Switzerland. 2015 Bruce Beasley-Qin Feng Dialogue Exhibition, Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China.

2015 Qin Feng solo exhibition, asia art center, Taiwan Province, China

2014 Qin Feng solo exhibition, World Gallery, Hongkong, China.

2014 Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, asia art center (Taibei) 2013 Banbro (Hong Kong)

2012 West Wind and East Water, Patricia and Philip Frost Art Museum, Miami, USA.

2012 Qin Feng: Desire Scenery, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China.

2012 World Gallery (Hong Kong) 2011 Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai)

2010 Frost Art Museum (Miami) 2009 Qin Feng-Prints and Single Brush Prints, Pace Gallery, new york, USA.

2009 Crowe Island Art Museum (Dallas) 2008 Qin Feng solo exhibition, Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, USA.

2003 new york Asia Museum (new york) 2001 Qin Feng solo exhibition, Asian Cultural Center, new york, USA.

1999 Qin Feng solo exhibition, Rab Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

Main group exhibitions:

2019 Ed Moses and Qin Feng, Blain Southern Gallery, London, UK.

2018 Mojing, Conte Art Center of Stanford University, San Francisco, USA.

2017 Christie's Shanghai Station Special Exhibition, Shanghai, China.

2006 Ink and Wash: China's Writing Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, new york, USA.

Participate in the exhibition

Hundreds of joint exhibitions at home and abroad, including Venice Biennale, Asian Art Exhibition of Metropolitan Museum of New York, British Museum Collection Exhibition and Boston Museum Joint Exhibition.

Collection and social activities

His works are collected by dozens of museums such as the British Museum (London), the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Boston Museum. He has won dozens of domestic and foreign art awards such as the International Art Contribution Award and the National Art Contribution Award. Participate in art activities at home and abroad such as Sotheby's and Christie's. Nearly 100 works were donated to public welfare projects such as art education, war disaster and orphan relief.