Sculptor Qiu Qijing, bad boy of Chinese sculpture

29-year-old Qiu Qijing is a kind of bad boy of Chinese sculpture. He refuses to give in to traditional aesthetics. He experiments with different materials. Sometimes his exhibits are startling. His penchant for originality and empathy remain the constant thread linking his works. On today's The List, we introduce you to Qiu Qijing, at a cameo exhibition in east Beijing.

29-year-oldQiuQijingisakindofbadboyofChinese
sculpture.

A couple, with their extended limbs and naked bodies, stand in a remote corner. seeming to engage in intimate dialogue. Their features are youthful, but something about them is eerie -- a quality shared by others in their company.

The figures are cast in glass steel. They share the same grim aspect in their respective poses. The gloomy tone of the exhibition is accentuated by wounds that appear around the cheeks and foreheads of the figures. The scars of the figures and sometimes on surrounding rocks are startling. But for the man who inflicts the wounds, they are charming and incisive.

Qiu said "My understanding of the set is that it will emit a sense of mild pain among viewers. Through sculpture, I try to bring the wound to the surface. The effect is to create a vital force. It's primal and internal -- but one in pain has a keen sense of life. One may become numbed easily by Society's stereotypes."

Acouple,withtheirextendedlimbsandnakedbodies,
standinaremotecorner.

Qiu figures appear small and lorn -- like two ascetics on a road -- two men struggling under an immense rock, bawling for help into the void. The sculptures seem almost to yield to the weight, but the struggle for survival never ceases.

The exhibition is called Twin. The figures bear strong resemblance to one another and to their sculptor. Qiu Qijing's figures express his own inner struggles and despair. The exhibition is in keeping with the prospect of his earlier exhibition, the "Great Migration".

"The Twin exhibition starts with the Great Migration. It is more of an objective look at Society. The second part, also named Twin is more internal and subjectve. It attempts to explore the personal and the private from the innermost feelings. "