Qin Yufen (B. 1954)
Biography
Born in 1954 in Shandong Province, China, Qin Yufen has gained international recognition for her installation art since the 1990s. Her works have been widely exhibited in museums and art institutions around the world. Qin’s monumental sound installation Spring in the Jade Hall, exhibited at the National Art Museum of Stuttgart in 1994, is considered a particularly poetic representation of her work. Qin takes sound recordings from Peking Opera, classical music, everyday life, and nature, which she digitally breaks down, distorts, and reorganises into multiple soundtracks. The digital sounds combined with other material objects such as clothes stands, Mao suits, bamboo, silk, rice paper, loudspeakers, and wires, form the installations that combine the visual with the aural.
Since 1980, Qin Yufen has been developing a minimal style of abstract ink paining that draws on traditional Chinese calligraphy and xie yi (freehand or spontaneous) painting styles. More recently, she has used colourful mineral pigments and ink on large-scale rice paper. Her expansive brushstrokes, flowing colours, and surfaces saturated with ink transcend the aesthetic of traditional ink painting using colour, ink, and powder, expanding the horizons of contemporary ink art.
Qin Yufen’s recent solo exhibitions include Qin Yufen Art 1983–2023 (2023), YanArt Space, Beijing, China; Shanhu–Coral (2019), Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China; and Life (2018), Schwartzsche Villa, Berlin, Germany. Group exhibitions and other projects include Atlas: Harmony in Diversity (2024), The China Pavilion, 60th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; Amazing Women, A Tribute Exhibition to Outstanding Female Artists by Forbes China (2024), Phoenix Centre, Beijing, China; Correct and Incorrect (2023), Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China; Moving is in every direction. Environments – Installations – Narrative Spaces (2017), Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany; Perfection by Chance—A Yi Pai Series Exhibition (2015), Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, China; Wu Ming, Form Is Formless—Chinese Abstract Art (2011), Contrasts Gallery (now Pearl Lam Projects), Shanghai, China; Beijing 008—Qin Yufen Art Project (2008), Today Art Museum, Beijing, China; Zones of Contact—the 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006), Sydney, Australia; Vision II (2002), Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany; Visual Sound (2001), Mattress Factory, Museum for Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, USA; Sonar or 9 Questions for the Periphery (1998), Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany; Bodily Logos (1995), Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany, Altes Museum, Germany and Rivoli Contemporary Art Museum, Torino, Italy; Orientation, 4th Istanbul Biennial (1995), Turkey; and Qin Yufen’s Paintings (1986), Heidelberg Art Association, Germany.
Exhibitions
News & Press
18 Sep 2015
Artron｜2015 West Bund Art & Design major works Preview
作为国内首个融合了顶尖当代艺术与设计的国际性大型博览会，2015西岸艺术与设计博览会将于9月8日在西岸艺术中心和西岸文化艺术示范区正式开展。...21 Mar 2015
International New York Times | Art Basel Hong Kong
The International New York Times has published a full page feature on Art Basel in Hong Kong which highlights Pearl Lam ...29 Nov 2014
