QIU ANXIONG: BEARING THE UNSEEN
PEARL LAM Hong Kong is pleased to present "Bearing the unseen" by Qiu Anxiong.
March 24 - May 30, 2026
Guided by the aesthetics of Chinese ink painting and deeply rooted in classical Chinese philosophy, Shanghai-based artist Qiu Anxiong, for more than two decades, has developed a singular artistic language that moves fluidly between painting, animation, installation, and time-based media. In his work, he articulates a condition he describes as “modernity in flux” that is marked by instability, mutation, and profound moral ambiguity. To him, modern civilisation is an unsettled terrain haunted by spiritual dissonance.
At a time when the use of artificial intelligence increasingly blurs what is real, Qiu reexamines our relationship with nature and the desire to dominate and control it. He does not abandon tradition in the face of modernity. Instead, he uses classical sources, Western anthropology, ancient Chinese mythological texts such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and Zhuang Zi’s notion of equality of all things to rescript the chaotic phenomena of the contemporary world.
Bearing the Unseen presents a new body of landscape paintings depicting a dystopian natural world inhabited by displaced animals and human figures to address our fractured relationship with nature.
Drawing formally from the literati tradition of Chinese ink painting, Qiu’s visualisation no longer resorts only to mountains and rivers; instead, cities, industrial zones, surveillance and digital networks have become the new infrastructure for defining contemporary life.
The exhibition’s title itself carries layered meanings. “Bearing” suggests enduring and bearing witness to the human control of nature. “The Unseen”, or Wu Zhi(無智), a Buddhistterm,refers to transcending conventional wisdom by adopting a primordial way of seeing. Animals occupy a centralrole within Qiu’s paintings. The depictions of animistic figures are meant to bear witness to the inherent violence embedded in our society, yet these figures remain stable and embody a quiet resilience. Conversely, human subjects appearfragile anddisoriented, losing their spiritual bearings. In essence, Qiu challenges our anthropocentric worldview, suggesting a new state where humans, animals, and machines can coexist on equal ontological ground. Through stop frame animation, video, and painting, the exhibition creates an immersive environment charged with contradictions, encouraging viewers to contemplate the psychological toll inflicted at the expense of economic progress.