Qiu Zhijie posing for one of the works in his 'Tattoo' series (Courtesy of Qiu Zhijie)

The Beijing-based experimental artist Qiu Zhijie has the Chinese character for left carved out of the sole of his right shoe and the character for right on the left sole, and as he demonstrated by gamely stepping in a puddle, they leave a brief, rebellious pattern on the ground as he walks.

'Propagator in the darkness' by Qiu Zhijie (Courtesy of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

"I carved those myself in 2002 for a performance related to the Long March. Most of the time you cannot see the pattern, but for me it is a constant reminder of art in my life," the artist said, while adding he has also carved the tires of his car with the sentence "Actually your destination can be somewhere else."

The artist at work, applying ink onto a litho plate (Courtesy of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

Qiu majored in printmaking at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, and at his graduation show in 1992, he presented a maze-like installation of silk prints on tall, glass panels. Qiu is now better known for his conceptual multimedia works involving video, photography and performance, but he has always been a printer at heart.

Qiu Zhijie at work  (Courtesy of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

The 39-year-old artist recently completed a six-week residency with the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI). "Coming to the STPI makes me feel like going back to my student days," the artist says, laughing, "but I never completely left printmaking because many of my performances have links to printing."

An example of Qiu's light writing combined with photography by the artist. (Courtesy of Qiu Zhijie)

Once described by the Beijing-based art critic Karen Smith as the "intellectual dynamo of the contemporary art world in China," Qiu is well known for fusing traditional Chinese calligraphy with modern media.

'The door 976' by Qiu Zhijie (Courtesy of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

In his Tattoo series, started in 1994, Qiu painted Chinese characters on his body and a white background wall behind him as he explored the notion of individuality and invisibility. He has also used "light writing" in many of his photographic works, using an electric torch to write words in the night air that are captured by a digital camera on a prolonged exposure and are then digitally superimposed onto another photograph. The artist calls the process "calli-photo-graphy."

Qui's 'Mao on Bridge' (Courtesy of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

Qiu's latest works at the print institute are part of an overall project on the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. This symbol of Chinese Communist might, which was completed in 1968, has become known as the Chinese bridge of death, a favored spot for suicide. "For me, the work done here is like making a conceptual map," Qui said, explaining that some of the works are plans for installations and performances he will do in Shanghai and Beijing next year.

An example of Qui's light writing (Courtesy of Qiu Zhijie)

These newly produced works explore the notion of nationhood and of geopolitical and psychological attachments with Nanjing City, one of the four ancient Chinese capitals. "Nanjing was once a great city, the capital of the south. But in one of my works I also called it a 'City of Failure,' because it has a really sad history. Over the centuries, people have been killed there many times and today these killings continue as people go to the bridge to kill themselves," he said.

'City of failure' by Qiu Zhijie (Courtesy of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute)

"In the past, the key word in our society was revolution, but right now the key word is success. You have only two choices: success or failure. That's the reason why so many people kill themselves on this bridge. They come to this symbolic place, which is so tall, so powerful," he added. An exhibition of lithographs, etchings and paper-casts that Qiu created at the print institute will be shown at its gallery from Aug. 30 to Oct. 8.

Lire "Qiu Zhijie adds provocative new meaning to traditional calligraphy" de Sonia Kolesnikov Jessop http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/14/arts/jessop.php