Author: QIU ZHIJIE 邱志杰

Size: 40×60cm×108

Signed and dated: Painted in 2021

Estimate: 600,000 -1,000,000

Final Price: RMB 600,000

titled and signed in Chinese, dated 2008

Since graduating from the printmaking department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, Qiu Zhijie has been involved in the creation of contemporary art in multiple capacities, from the series of photography of‘Writing a thousand times of Orchid Pavilion preface’and‘Tattoo’ in the 1990s to the series of‘Stand’ and‘Group Photo’ discussing political discourse after the millennium. He put forward the concept of‘total art’ at the China Academy of fine arts, where he teaches. This educational concept is based on cultural research, introduces the knowledge background of sociology, archaeology and media research, and develops a practice that integrates action, installation, live art, event art, writing and exhibition planning, Seek the communication between artists and society, and strive to break through the dilemma of institutionalization.
’How to become an ignorant person’ is an important proposition put forward by Qiu Zhijie in his creation and teaching. This proposition assumes that our existing prejudices about things may be an obstacle, hindering personal innovation and growth. The process of eliminating prejudices and returning to the ignorant is fraught with difficulties. It is necessary to subvert the previous knowledge and experience and re-establish the way of recognizing the world.
’How to be an Ignorant Person’ (Lot 1115) is a series of prints created by Qiu Zhijie during his teaching in the Chinese Academy of fine arts from 2003 to 2015, with a total of 108 mirror prints. The artist first questioned the superstition of experience and dogma, as well as the hegemony of authority and the hypocrisy of morality, leading to a question: how do we become skeptics; Then gradually abandon those invalid knowledge and experience memory, including idolized knowledge, metaphysical knowledge and sociological knowledge; Finally, he will return to his original state and become an ignorant person. The realm of an ignorant person is not emptiness and forgetfulness,‘forgetting is not loss’, but as an‘empty and clean person’ ready to accept and accommodate new knowledge at any time.
In the work, the collage and misappropriation techniques of pop art are used to extract scattered thinking fragments, then edit and merge them into brand-new visual images. At the same time, the random records of teaching notes are retained, and the orderly educational concept is combined with the magnificent and vivid divergent thinking. In particular, the aphorisms created by the artist, such as‘every container is a funnel’,‘we are the pets of the earth’,‘the shadow is the most suitable parasol’, are the places where the bright colors and spiritual lights shine in the works. Qiu Zhijie also added some symbols of Chinese traditional culture to his works, such as the‘rules’ listed on the walls of ancient buildings, or the‘Superstitious Tongbao’ engraved on ancient copper coins, which vividly demonstrated his superstition about authority and dogmatism, and also explained Qiu Zhijie’s educational philosophy in simple terms.