Exhibition View of "Therefore: Chen Qi" at AMNUA

Starting from Xinxiang

Written on the occasion of Chen Qi’s solo exhibition

By Liu Weidong

In our generation’s eyes, Chen Qi has always been a man of reason, composure, and introspection. During those early years we worked together at Nanjing University of the Arts, his studio was always filled with the scent of wood shavings, the faint aura of ink, and a kind of almost religious concentration. He was never keen on grand talk about “concepts,” yet every presentation of his work felt like a silent dialectic—between form and spirit, technique and intuition, matter and mind—each probing the other, mutually generating.

Later, when he joined the Central Academy of Fine Arts, his vision widened, and his artistic language grew richer; but that inner direction—from the inside outward—has remained unchanged. If I were to use one word to summarize Chen Qi’s art, it would be Xinxiang (Heart-Image). This was the title of one of his series more than a decade ago, yet under his hand the ancient term gained new life. In traditional aesthetics, Xinxiang is rooted in the idea of Xin sheng xiang wai—the mind gives rise to images beyond appearance. It represents a visual wisdom that transcends form while never departing from it.

But Chen Qi’s Xinxiang is neither a mystical state of mind nor an abstract philosophical notion. Rather, it is a tangible form generated at the boundary between the material and the spiritual—something touchable and visible, yet always surrounded by a soft, inner radiance emanating from the depths of the heart.

Exhibition View of "Therefore: Chen Qi" at AMNUA

From woodblock printing and water-based prints to installations and video works, his art has always carried an aura of “reverse growth.” He does not chase after novelty in materials; instead, he continues to excavate new spiritual layers within old techniques. His woodcuts have never been mere printing—they are acts of dialogue with wood, water, and light. Each carved stroke bears not only the trace of the hand but also the imprint of the mind. What is imprinted is not the outer shape of things, but the rhythm, breath, and awareness of the inner self. One might say that what he presents is not an “image,” but the manifestation of a Heart-Image.

I remember him once saying years ago at Nanjing University of the Arts:

“Art is not about expressing something—it is about letting something appear.”

This statement has been proven again and again in his later works. Chen Qi has always held reverence toward the notion of manifestation. He believes that beneath form lies intent, beneath intent lies mind, and beneath mind lies Qi—the vital breath. Every artistic process is, therefore, a cultivation returning to Qi.

Exhibition View of "Therefore: Chen Qi" at AMNUA

For this reason, his works—seemingly cool and restrained—harbor a profound and immeasurable warmth. That warmth does not arise from passion, but from years of self-discipline and awareness. This understanding resonates subtly with Heidegger’s reflection that “the truth of Being sets itself into the work” (Daß sich die Wahrheit des Seins ins Werk setzt). For Heidegger, truth (aletheia) does not mean “accuracy” or “correspondence with fact,” but rather “unconcealment”—the state of being revealed.

Formally, Chen Qi’s art possesses a kind of scientific precision, yet within that precision flows poetry. From his early layered woodcuts to his later explorations with ink, installations, paper sculpture, and even cloisonné enamel, what appears to be a continuous investigation of media, structure, and craft is, at its core, the unfolding of a rhythm of the mind. He constructs order through reason, yet allows emotion and intuition to move quietly within. That coexistence of control and surrender, calculation and chance, is precisely the moment when Xinxiang comes into being.

I often think that Chen Qi’s true contemporaneity does not lie in formal innovation, but in how he insists on the rhythm of slowness in a rapidly changing world— to affirm time through bodily labor, and to reconstruct the self through repetitive craftsmanship. In this sense, he is an artist against his time. His work compels us to rediscover the meaning of the hand: the hand not merely as a tool of technique, but as the extension of the heart. The rhythm, patience, and reverence conveyed through the hand are precisely what today’s art education most easily overlooks.

Exhibition View of "Therefore: Chen Qi" at AMNUA

What makes Xinxiang precious is that it embodies an irreplaceable experience. In an era flooded with images and astonishingly fast AI generation, too many images are “the result of algorithms” rather than “the result of the heart.” Chen Qi goes against this tide, reminding us that art can still be the externalization of the soul, the projection of consciousness. With the simplest materials—wood, water, paper, and light—he builds a new visual ethics: what we see is not merely an image, but the process of perception itself, the trace of awareness unfolding.

At times, his works feel like architectures for meditation. Each layer of ink, each accumulation of marks, is an expansion of inner space. The transparent layers built up over time embody not only visual depth but also psychological resonance. Here, time ceases to be linear—it is compressed, folded, and revealed anew. In that gaze, the viewer is invited to breathe, to fall silent, to awaken alongside the work.

Within Chen Qi’s art, I seem to hear an extraordinarily clear sound—the “soundless sound” that arises when spirit and matter question one another.
I often recall the ancient saying:

“That which is above form is called Dao; that which is below form is called Qi.”

Chen Qi’s art builds a bridge between the Dao and Qi, allowing form to carry spirit and to return to spirit. His Xinxiang stands at the far end of that bridge—and at its beginning.

Chen Qi, Rose Valley, Water-based Woodcut, 178cm ×89cm,  2015.

In recent years, each time I encounter a new work of his, a long-lost sense of quietness rises within me—a stillness that calms the heart, a silence that lets one hear one’s own breath amid a turbulent world. Perhaps this is what moves us most deeply in his art: it shows how the heart can manifest through matter, and extend beyond it. From Nanjing to Beijing, from a young lecturer to a major figure in contemporary art, Chen Qi has never ceased to refine and explore along the path of Xinxiang. His art does not seek to conquer outwardly, but to arrive inwardly; not to produce visual spectacle, but to restore the purity of seeing.

Chen Qi, Perfect Fusion No.2, Painting: 186x118cmx4, Frame: 245x118cmx4, Water-based Woodcut, 2023.Chen Qi, Spring River, Painting: 233x109cmx5, Frame: 262x137cmx5（233x545cm, Woodblock print, 2024.Chen Qi, Aruupa No. 2, Water-based Woodcut, 90x140cm, 2025.

In this sense, the exhibition “Therefore: Chen Qi” is, as its title suggests, a self-evident unfolding of cause and effect— both conclusion and continuation, both period and comma.

For me, as his old colleague and friend, witnessing Chen Qi’s journey—from Nanjing University of the Arts to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, from youthful vigor to calm maturity, from woodcut to “impression of the mind”—brings a rare sense of consolation. Because in him I still see the original faith of art: the trust in the heart, the trust in the hand, and the trust in time.

May his path continue inward—and ever outward.

Nanjing, Early Autumn, 2025

Foreword

 By Lin Shuchuan

“Therefore,” a word light in tone yet heavy with causality, connects the world while allowing thought and perception to unfold. For the artist Chen Qi, it is not only a metaphor for the structure of his art but also a reflection of his creative process. The exhibition does not intend to explain Chen Qi’s art, but rather to use the exhibition itself as a moment to reveal the inevitability and contingency between cause and effect. Each work can be seen as an echo along this chain: the trace of carving, the seep of water, the suspension of ink, the filtering of light, the accumulation of time. Together they form his distinctive artistic logic: because of Chen Qi, therefore Chen Qi.

Chen Qi, The Cloud - Ten No.2, Painting: 100x58cm, Frame: 117x68cm,  Water-based Woodcut, 2014.

Chen Qi began his artistic journey with printmaking but long ago transcended the concept of the “print.” For him, the plate is a surface of thought, a point of contact between human and material, between time and space. Wood, paper, water, and ink are not passive substances but living participants in the generation of content. Through encounter, dialogue, and negotiation with these materials, Chen Qi constructs a breathing organism, a field of mutual existence. The imprint is no longer a mere trace but the embodiment of time; the image is no longer a representation but the manifestation of relation. In his work, artistic causality is no longer the linear path from conception to realization but a cyclical movement from matter to mind, from chance to necessity. Renowned for his technique of water-based woodblock printing, Chen Qi continually experiments with new interfaces between water and wood. In series such as Cloud Atlas, The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, and Xinxiang (Heart-Image), his inquiry into the subtlest dimensions of craft leads toward a philosophical proposition of resonance between mind and matter. Each layering and each repetition can be seen as an act of regeneration: the diffusion of water introduces uncontrollable halos of chance, while ink, in concert with light, breathes like nature itself. In truth, the artist does not seek to dominate this process; he moves within the delicate balance between control and release. This posture embodies the spirit of “Therefore”: it does not aim at conclusions but sustains continuous becoming, keeping art in a state of happening presence.

Chen Qi, Xinxiang (Mental Imagery) No.2, 90x120 cm, 2015.Chen Qi, Banquet, Watercolor on paper, 329x151cm x4, 2019.

Chen Qi’s works are often described as embodying both the rationality and the poetic sensibility of the East. His rationality arises from a deep sensitivity to order: layer upon layer of imprints, a meticulous patience, and a devotion that borders on the religious. His poetic quality, however, resides in what follows reason—in the spaces of silence and reserve. As seen in the Time Notation series, it is a meditation on time, a compassion toward life, and an echo of the cosmos. He transforms technique into the gateway to Dao and allows form to become the mirror of the heart. In this sense, “Therefore” as the title of the exhibition may be read both as a response to Wang Yangming’s idea that “there is nothing outside the mind,” and as an enactment of his principle of “unity of knowledge and action.” It reminds us that the purpose of art is not to instruct but to allow the viewer to realize why it is the way it is. This realization is both a bodily experience of moving from cause to effect and an intellectual awakening that shifts from knowing to awareness. 

Chen Qi, A Tapestry of Blossoms, 130x239cm, Ink on paper, 2024.

When viewers stand before Chen Qi’s intricate works of interlacing light and structure, they are drawn into a quiet logic where reason and emotion intertwine, and order coexists with chance. It is a sense of equilibrium grounded in Eastern wisdom, a way of thinking that does not begin with opposition but aims toward harmony. From water-based woodblock prints to ink on paper, paper sculpture, and jade carving, Chen Qi has consistently contemplated the ontology of existence through the logic of the imprint. Each work is a mutual act of imprinting and being imprinted; the artist is both the creator and the one inscribed by time and matter. “Therefore” can thus be seen as a pause in his artistic language—not a full stop, but a suspension, a breath, and a new beginning.

Chen Qi, Exploring the Original World No.2, Paper Installation,  260x120x30cm,  2019.Chen Qi, Giant River, 128x40x60cm, Champleve Cloisonne Enamel, 2022.Chen Qi, Excellent Combination No.1, Diameter 40cm；Thickness 2.5cm, Carbonate Jade, 2023.

Because of Chen Qi, is cause; therefore Chen Qi, is the effect. Therefore this exhibition becomes the most fitting metaphor for his artistic practice. His works continually affirm this chain of causality: because of technique, art transcends technique; because of the tangible, it reaches the intangible. Through decades of creation, Chen Qi has traced a complete circle of artistic self-reflection, revealing how art itself becomes the imprint of time, the echo of life, and the witness of the spirit. Undoubtedly, “Therefore” is more than a solo exhibition—it is an act of retrospection, a looking back at how one artist, through his own perseverance, has turned the imprint into a mode of thinking and form into the evidence of thought. It invites the viewer not to linger on the surface of seeing but to venture inward: into the logic of “Therefore,” into the causal chain linking art and existence, into a creative journey that moves from matter to mind and from technique to the Dao. In the end, we may realize that “Therefore” is not a conclusion but a new beginning, a renewed question about art, time, and life itself: therefore, why is it this way—and not another?

November 2, 2025

About the Exhibition

Therefore: Chen Qi

Dates: November 25-December 23, 2025

Venue: Gallery 3, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts

Artistic Director: Li Xiaoshan

Academic Chair: Liu Weidong

Curator: Lin Shuchuan

Organizers: The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Nanjing University of the Arts

Co-organizers: Digital Intelligence Innovation Center, Nanjing University of the Arts;

                                 School of Media, Nanjing University of the Arts

Host: Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts

Courtesy of the Artist and Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, edited by CAFA ART INFO.