QIU ANXIONG: Bearing the Unseen

Hong Kong—Guided by the aesthetics of Chinese ink painting and deeply rooted in classical Chinese philosophy, Shanghai-based artist Qiu Anxiong, for more than two decades, has developed a singular artistic language that moves fluidly between painting, animation, installation, and time-based media. In his work, he articulates a condition he describes as “modernity in flux” that is marked by instability, mutation, and profound moral ambiguity. To him, modern civilisation is an unsettled terrain haunted by spiritual dissonance.

At a time when the use of artificial intelligence increasingly blurs what is real, Qiu reexamines our relationship with nature and the desire to dominate and control it. He does not abandon tradition in the face of modernity. Instead, he uses classical sources, Western anthropology, ancient Chinese mythological texts such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and Zhuang Zi’s notion of equality of all things to rescript the chaotic phenomena of the contemporary world.

Bearing the Unseen presents a new body of landscape paintings depicting a dystopian natural world inhabited by displaced animals and human figures to address our fractured relationship with nature. Drawing formally from the literati tradition of Chinese ink painting, Qiu’s visualisation no longer resorts only to mountains and rivers; instead, cities, industrial zones, surveillance and digital networks have become the new infrastructure for defining contemporary life.

The exhibition’s title itself carries layered meanings. “Bearing” suggests enduring and bearing witness to the human control of nature. “The Unseen”, or Wu Zhi (無智), a Buddhist term, refers to transcending conventional wisdom by adopting a primordial way of seeing. Animals occupy a central role within Qiu’s paintings. The depictions of animistic figures are meant to bear witness to the inherent violence embedded in our society, yet these figures remain stable and embody a quiet resilience. Conversely, human subjects appear fragile and disoriented, losing their spiritual bearings. In essence, Qiu challenges our anthropocentric worldview, suggesting a new state where humans, animals, and machines can coexist on equal ontological ground. Through stop frame animation, video, and painting, the exhibition creates an immersive environment charged with contradictions, encouraging viewers to contemplate the psychological toll inflicted at the expense of economic progress. The exhibition is broken down into three main sections as follows:

1. To seek release from predicament, “釋然” is directed at a state of calmness after doubts have been cast away. The word first appeared in Liu Yiqing’s A New Account of the Tales of the World (世說新語) during the Song Dynasty.

Flying South (2006) is an early animation by Qiu that evokes the seasonal rhythms of the natural world. Flying wild geese struck down by gunshots, stacks of books burning in fires, volumes fleeing from library shelves, and caged birds dying allude to the ideological and ecological challenges facing humanity. Modern history has always been marked by many crises along the way, and the search for a spiritual release is more pressing than ever.

With reference to The Golden Bough, a comparative study of mythology and religion, written by 19th century British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer, Qiu’s series by the same name conveys the notion of “re-enchanting a disenchanted world”. Qiu constructs a heterotopia where tradition and the future intertwine. In The Golden Bough—Wild Hot Spring 3 (2023), multiple figures stand inside a hot spring hidden by snow-capped pine trees, quietly observing a herd of deer from a distance. By juxtaposing a serene landscape with an element of modern comfort, this painting reflects on our longing for a spiritual refuge and self-healing in a chaotic world.

Feeling the Mountain and Knowing the Waters—Like the Moon of the Lute (2025) depicts a pair of rabbits, one black and one white, resting quietly by rocks set against a tranquil waterside under a hazy moonlight. The black and white pair symbolises the dualistic principles of yin and yang in the universe, echoing the waning phases of the moon. The white bridge at a distance introduces a subtle tension with the deep blue lake.

2. Dystopian prophecy: This section centres on the video animation New Classics of Mountains and Seas 3 (2013–2017), the final chapter of Qiu’s seminal trilogy. Depicting everyday scenes of a dystopic society where every aspect of life has been fully integrated with cyber technology, Qiu integrates hand-drawn animation and 3D design software into the making process. In a fictional city wrapped in virtual holograms, the streets are deserted, and due to our total reliance on technology, people are addicted to virtual entertainment and the illusory world they have created. The fall of humanity has made the real city completely uninhabitable. On view with the video is a small selection of black-and-white ink wash paintings that Qiu used for making this film.

In New Classic of Mountains and Seas—Watering Horses at a Limpid Stream (2026), Qiu draws inspiration from the traditional green-and-blue landscape style of the Tang and Song dynasties. Two horses stand quietly in a clear river, evoking a sense of harmony and serenity within nature. Above them, an octopus-like modern aircraft, reimagined from motifs in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, floats in the sky. This hybrid entity symbolises the unchecked expansion of modern civilisation and serves to deconstruct time and space through a surreal visual narrative.

Sound of Chiaroscuro (2009) is a poignant video focusing on the burning process of a single candle in darkness. The artist deliberately strips away its grand narratives, emphasising the flickering light as a metaphor for the burden and temporal quality of life itself.

3. Equality of All Things: Zhuang Zi claims that everyone has a different viewpoint based on their own subjective experiences, and no one’s perspective is empirically absolute. Therefore, we must learn to adapt a non-anthropocentric perspective and to accept all things as they are.

Jiangnan Poem (2005) is Qiu’s first digital media work that records the fleeting movement of birds on a tree. These seemingly mundane moving images, presented with the sound of a siren playing in the background, suggest an ecological crisis is coming, yet animals will always be able to find a way to adapt to new conditions despite their fragility.

Based on the tale “Xiaoqing” from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Peach Blossom Spring Wonderland—Encounter with a Snake (2025) captures the reunion between the snake charmer and the serpent he once tamed. In this painting, a man in dark robes faces a massive turquoise snake coiled along the shore. Qiu explores the bond between domestication and the wilderness through a quiet yet charged encounter. In relation to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Qiu reinterprets classical mythology with a series of paintings on silk for diagnosing the present. The New Classic of Mountains and Seas (2026), a series of paintings on silk, represents divine beasts that give way to drones, hybrid forms, and vehicles. Technological progress is reframed as a monstrous form of animism.

Fading of God—Deer Calls in the Secluded Valley (2026) transforms a traditional Chinese green-and-blue landscape into a mysterious and tranquil world. Sika deer with climbing ferns growing out of their heads coexist with an owl hidden among the bushes, blending into the swirling clouds and mist. In the distance, a car resembling a monster suggests the symbiotic relationship between civilisation and nature. This work expresses a spiritual yearning for harmony and a peaceful coexistence with nature.

Listening to the Qin—Deerfield (2026) is a diptych consisting of a painting and a video. Displayed side by side are a still image of two deer resting in the woods and a video of Qiu’s acquaintance performing with a guqin inside a misty forest. The deliberate use of tree lines to connect both scenes of animals and humans into a poetic composition evokes solitude and disrupts our conventional reading of the narrative quality of the painting.

The exhibition Bearing the Unseen entices viewers to dwell within uncertainty, to confront the unseen forces shaping our world, and to reconsider what it means to be at one with nature and to rekindle our inherent instinct in an age saturated by technology. Through Qiu’s poetic vision, animals emerge not only as witnesses to human exploitation but as mirrors reflecting our shared destiny.