Qiu Zhijie

Qui Zhijie was born in Fujian Province in 1969 and studied printmaking at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing from which he graduated in 1992. Since then, he has expanded his creative range by working in mixed media, photography, and calligraphy, having developed his own "conceptual photography" in which he uses his body as a canvas. The idea of "thought-less-ness" is central to Qui Zhijie's art as he strives to subvert the importance of "epoch-making revolutionary events" by creating works with mundane subject matter. For him, human destiny abides in the commonplace occurrences and routines of life, something a grandiose, heroic art cannot depict. As one of the leading artists of his generation, Qui Zhijie has exhibited widely in China, Europe, and North America, most recently in the 2003 Venice Biennale and the 2004 Shanghai Biennale.