LIU JIEQIONG

 

b.1967, Yanchuan county, Shaanxi province, China
Lives and works in Yanchuan county, China

Renowned in China for her reworking of the traditional folk art of paper-cutting, Liu Jieqiong is a key artist in ‘The Great Survey of Paper-cuttings in Yanchuan County’, an exhibition initiated by the Long March Project in 2004. For this exhibition, Liu began to expand the medium beyond ritual customs and folk stories to explore contemporary issues and themes. Central to her work is a political and social engagement with local and national history. Her work for APT5 reflects the artist’s understanding and imaginings of the historical Long March.

Liu was born in Yanchuan county, Shaanxi province, where the Red Army completed their arduous march and established a new society. In modern times, the region is known for its many papercut artists. The typical style of Shaanxi province is a strong use of combined positive and negative space, a lack of single-point perspective, and ornately decorative flora and fauna. Chinese papercuts are often elaborate pictorial narratives and, in Liu’s work, visual symbols convey complex verbal meanings.

Liu’s papercuts deliberately challenge distinctions between high art and folk art. The result is a beautiful and dynamic interplay between past and present using an ancient artistic practice.

Liu Jieqiong’s exhibition history includes ‘The Great Survey of Paper-cuttings in Yanchuan County’ organised by the Long March Project, and she exhibited at the ‘Techniques of the Visible: 2004 Shanghai Biennale', Shanghai Art Museum, China. Her work has been included in 'Do You Believe in Reality?: 2004 Taipei Biennale', Taiwan; ‘Getting Close to the Origins of Chinese Paper-cutting’, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, in 2004; and ‘Classified Materials: Accumulations, Archives, Artists’, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada, in 2006.

Gallery 1.1, GoMA

A full-colour publication is available from the Gallery Store.

Lui Jieqiong, 'Story of the Red Army' 2004

LIU JIEQIONG
Story of the Red Army 2004
Purchased 2006
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

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