Visually provocative, Qian Jiahua’s abstract canvases are presented as parts of larger painting installations. Each work is carefully layered in acrylic paint worked with rigid accuracy and an almost musical modulation. Areas of colour vie with subtly un-geometric shapes and conscientiously placed lines. Experimenting with how spatial delineation and colour can affect perception, she stacks, divides, and polishes paint, developing multiple layers to construct her paintings. Instead of sketching or designing, Qian Jiahua derives inspiration from experience, memory and desire. Within history of art, she is also influenced by the painting of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. In the Chinese abstract tradition, she is far removed from the lyrical abstraction of Zao Wu-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun
and is instead closer to a more recent trend started by Ding Yi. Examining her paintings, viewers can trace the artist’s extemporaneous process of building architectural forms as she constantly questions the category of abstraction.
Qian Jiahua, born in 1987, Shanghai, China, graduated with a BA from the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, in 2011, where she lives and works. Her work has been widely exhibited in China including K11 Museum Shanghai, Long Museum Shanghai and Henglu Art Museum Hangzhou. Qian has received significant critical attention, having been included in curated exhibitions at Long Museum Shanghai, Time Art Museum Beijing, art-st-urban Lucerne as well as galleries such as White Cube London and Simon Lee Hong Kong.