At the end of the 1970s, a classically trained Chinese painter, Qiu Deshu, inspired by the traversing cracks on an aged stone slate pioneered a highly experimental and distinctive approach to the traditional art of Chinese ink. With his profound knowledge of traditional painting and paper mounting techniques, he pushed the expressive power of the xuan paper to an exceptional height, changing the media’s traditionally passive and subsidiary status. By tearing, carving and rubbing, Qiu Deshu creates irregular tears and feathering of the paper that will later bear different color schemes and shapes to suggest landscapes evocative in traditional Chinese paintings.

In Untitled, Qiu Deshu introduces the illusion of light permeating through the transient layers of ink. Through the overlaying of colored ink and the gradations of black and white in the background, the work invites the viewer to look through and search for the mysterious and omnipresent embodiment of light.