Exhibition view of Li Qing : LI QING SOLO PROJECT, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

PREFACE ：

 

Exhibitions are too much like appointments: someone submits the texts and someone submits the artworks. I chose and arranged phrases published by curator Cui Cancan on social media over the course of a year, from the first discussions in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year to the realization of the project in Hong Kong at the end of the year. With his words, I rush to my appointment.

 

 ——Li Qing

 

 

 If there is wind at my back,


 Midday in Jishuitan is like that, passing sluggishly.

 The night of June 6,


 White bath towel,


 The lights have to be out in this space at nine o’clock,

 But there is no hurry.

 

 Go to the seashore, find a house to lie down in,

 From a slanted perspective,


 Watch the light climb the wall. Light!


 Outside the window

 A spotlight,


 Chinese chess study group,


 A struggle between two warriors, with snake and crane forms.

 

 In my heart, I was once a sword-bearing youth,

 I blended into the marketplace,


 Nourishing life, ascending to professional heights.

 Fat hand and swollen leg,

 Trajectories and connections,

 Structures and mechanics.

 

 Daytime fireworks, past Tokyo,


 Starry Shanghai, black capital,


 Mobile conceptual painting.

 
“Propaganda is most effective


 When it successfully dominates


 The language and tone of an event.”


 Walking in the snow without a trace, shining plum blossoms.

 

 Crime and punishment of the oil kingdoms,

 Maotai from 16 years ago.


 Streams of people on Lan Kwai Fong

 Slightly drunk,

 Andy Warhol’s Empire State Building


 Is not in Hong Kong.

 “Elite salons” are a common dramatic ailment

 An educated youth


 Actually has the life of a Chinese servant girl.

 

 Ghosts of waves,


 The theme song from Journey to the West.


 A harbor island in the fog,


 A false show of prosperity every night.


 Aware of temperature, forgetful of age,


 “The word ‘politicization’ can be simply summarized as

 Becoming part of the world


 In the world.”


 A person


 Wandered during his lifetime,


 Back and forth between the waves and the sands.

 

 In this long night, the light suddenly seems wrong,


 At the end of the rainbow.


 The deeper the black, the brighter the light,


 An era without shame, a lonely island of Chinese people.

 Because I thought of a spring breeze,

 There are secrets in my heart:


 Capitalist ghosts, reactionary paper tigers,

 Don’t believe anyone over 30.

 

Exhibition view of Li Qing : LI QING SOLO PROJECT, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

 

Exhibition view of Li Qing : LI QING SOLO PROJECT, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

 

Exhibition view of Li Qing : LI QING SOLO PROJECT, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

 

Exhibition view of Li Qing : LI QING SOLO PROJECT, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

 

Neighbor’s Window is an important series in Li Qing’s creative explorations. He brings together physical window frames and paintings of scenes outside the window, creating a fictional interaction between the viewer and the scenery. In this personal project in Hong Kong, Li Qing chose the Chinese characters for “Emanating Glory,” “Returning Triumphant,” and “Sweet,” as well as other neon lights as the scenes outside the window. These characters were taken from everyday Hong Kong streets and Hong Kong’s past. They are mainlanders’ typical impressions of cities such as Hong Kong. Re-examining these explorations from the perspective of the present, their functions, properties, and meanings have shifted in time; they seem familiar, but they have become less distinct due to the shift in time and space. Feelings of uncertainty are aroused by these alienated visions.