In conversation with Qi Lei: a Symbiosis between Humans and Nature
Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: When looking at your work, what strikes me the most is its great vitality and your unique painting style. Your depiction of giant plants rising from the ground, and the scenery of humans and animals interacting with mother nature. These pictures present a vibrant yet calm quality. What does painting itself mean to you, or in other words, why did you choose to paint?Qi Lei: Why did I choose to paint? Or why did painting itself choose me? A lot of things are not just about what my decisions are, sometimes they are a response after feeling valued by the things I've chosen. The method I used to depict what I've seen is affected by my life experiences growing up, the aesthetic that I have developed through my perception, and how I started to feel deeply connected to the accumulation of these things. It's about expressing love, and all things in life. Painting has brought me many different experiences. Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: Can you please share with us your artistic process?Qi Lei: At first I usually source some photos and images, then I do a quick sketch to create the composition of the work. After that, it’s all about expressing and deciding what will remain on the canvas, as well as grasping what I want the final outcome to be. There is a sense of rhythm in the process, almost like composing a song.Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: You’ve mentioned the theme of your recent work is about expressing the symbiotic and conflicting relationship between humans and nature, could you please tell us more about this?Qi Lei: People live and work in constructed cities and social environments, building artificial landscapes that match their own enjoyments. However, all of these are done within the scope of nature. When people are finally tired of labouring in the 'civilised society', they often crave to return to nature; to find the 'true nature' that resonates in their hearts and souls. It's like the radian of a compass, which will always return to where it started. Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: How do you compare yourself to ‘other busy individuals who work in metropolitan cities’, as you mentioned in our previous conversation?Qi Lei: I guess it’s about how I observe life from a different point of view: as an ‘outsider’ that is detached from the reality of this ‘real-world’.Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: In your previous series, people are painted in full, the viewer can clearly see one’s facial expressions and features. On the contrary, in your recent series, your subjects’ faces are erased. Can you share with us what’s behind this radical transition?Qi Lei: The focus of expression differs between each series. In my recent works, the portrayal of people in the setting acts as a metaphor: they are not individuals, but are a part of the environment as a whole. To make this point I give each character a blurred face instead of depicting their actual features. Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: Looking back at each series you’ve created – starting with your earliest 'Theatre', to the 'Space and Objects’, to 'PIT', and finally to your recent 'Field' series which captures the relationship between humans and nature. What inspired you to change and create a new theme?Qi Lei: After finishing the 'PIT' series in 2015, I went through a creative drought, like writer’s block, until late 2016. I was very distressed, trying all kinds of content and methods, none of which I was happy with. Later on, I decided to take my mind outside the studio and went for a bike ride alongside Wenyu River in the suburb of Beijing, where I happened to observed the working process of the forest rangers. I was curious so I took many photos of them. When I got back home I looked at those photos and I thought that the way they worked was so out of touch with the modern era. At the same time, it presented to me, as an observer, a calming atmosphere; it was like a mirror that reflected the anxiety of my creations. So I started to paint forests and the people who work in them.
From 2018 to my most recent work, I shifted the focus from suburban Beijing, to the jungles of Southeast Asia. As I gave more thought to how individuals deal with their anxiety, I found out that more people from urban areas started to travel to Southeast Asia to relief their stress; it has become a popular destination. The broad-leaved plants in these subtropical jungles can indeed give people a refreshing mood.Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: Please share with us one of your favourite artists, and how the artist influenced your work.Qi Lei: I can share with you two of my favourite artists.
Munch's portrayal of one's spirituality, primarily how he depicted the figures in distorted forms and his uses of dark blue, and purple, which highlighted the emotions, gave me a lot of inspiration. This can be seen in the 'PIT' series. The 'PIT' series was about observation; peeping into the movement of a character's hands and limbs under a specific environment, which can imply the emotional changes that were going through the character in that specific moment. I felt this was influenced by Munch and the spirit that was delivered in his works. Also, Munch's understanding of imagery was considered very advanced among other artists. His depiction of the same object in different colours and images, thus showing mixed emotions, has affected many contemporary artists.
However, Gauguin had his focus on the escape from modern civilisation and pursuing one's primitive desire. His use of warm-tone colours, such as orange and yellow, is also reflected in my recent works. There is a similar ideology about escaping anxieties from the urban life and the desire of pursuing primitive nature.Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli: You’ve mentioned that if you were not an artist, you would like to direct films. You’ve also created a series of works on the theme of theatre and movies. What kind of film would you make?Qi Lei: I wanted to make something about the memories of life in my hometown: about land, rivers and people living in my hometown.
