Conversations with Luzhen Qiu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luzhen Qiu. 

Hi Luzhen, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Hangzhou, China, a city with beautiful scenery, rich history, and culture, which inspire lots of poetry and artists to produce wonderful works. For me, Hangzhou sometimes could be a resource for my artwork. I Came to Detroit since 1998, I did my graduate study at Wayne State University with MFA degree. My graduate studies had built a good foundation for me to be an artist. Detroit has a great culture diversity. The city is full of energy. I especially love Detroit artist community. It is amazing to witness and experience how artists support each other and inspire each other through their work. As a Chinese American artist living in metro Detroit for 24 years, my works are searching ways of bridging two cultures. I am a multi-disciplinary artist working with both representational and abstract artworks. My work media consists of oil, acyclic, color pencil, and mixed media. During my working process, I like to search for ways of dealing with contents and forms by organizing objects from chaotic contents into re-arranged forms. 

My artworks have been displayed in various galleries including but not limited to the Form gallery in Cranbrook art museum, Detroit artist market, Galerie Camille, Detroit Music Hall, Lansing gallery; High Art Gallery in Traverse City, An Arbor Art Center, Eastern Michigan University Gallery, Touch stone gallery in DC, China Academy of Fine Art School… 

My work has win some awards including the first place of “2004 Art Environmental Activism” show (nine states including Ontario art jury show); the first place of the 2005 Canton art show, the second place of the “2016 Silver medal Exhibition” in Scarab club in Detroit, the third place of “ 2003 The Annual All Media Exhibition” in Ann Arbor Art Center, the third place, “Multiculturalism In Art”, Waterford Cultural Council, the honorable mention at the 7th National Annual All-Media Exhibition in Touch Stone Gallery in Washington, DC … 

I also had some solo shows in my past. 

I Illustrated the book titled “the dream of stars and moon” which has been published by Zhejiang province children publishing company in China. 

Besides making artwork in my studio, I enjoy teaching art class and art tutor in the community. In my past I had taught in Paint Creek Center for the Art, Claire Academy of Art, and China Academy of Art… 

I believe my work will enrich the cross-culture for the state. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Being an artist is always challenge in life. Often, I have to struggle to survive financially. During the creative process, I need to constantly solve the problems in the images. I want to challenge myself to surpassed myself in my artwork. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
“Dream of my Purple Mountain” series are my ongoing pursuit which focuses on my Chinese culture background. I want to make a dreamscape from my memory. By juxtaposing fragments of memories from my childhood, Chinese traditional fabric textiles, old Chinese legends, the fragments from Chinese vase… I want to tell stories. Stories about childhood’s fantasies, Childhood wonderland. My drawings are visual poems drawing the viewer into an open-ended story through images that ignite the imagination and a sense of delight by a collage of the images that I was familiar with and manipulating the formal elements of drawing: line, color, tone, and design patterns. Color pencils on layers of mylar allow me to work on the sense of depth from the transparency. After I’ve been living in metro Detroit for 24 years, I realized that I’d been obsessed to the Great Lakes since the first time I visited Lake Superior. The rocks, the stories of the shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes, and water… all goes into my fantasy. It is my soul, my dream, and my destiny. I found that creating work with monotype is a way to express my dream of the Great Lakes. In China, rocks were believed to have a concentrated amount of natural energy and symbolized the dwelling places of the Daoist immortals. Rockeries is one of the Chinese garden design elements. In my “Ode to a Nightingale” series, I build my own rockies with my drawings and monotype. I draw with different brush strokes or making monotypes with sumi ink and watercolor, then, cut the drawings or monotypes piece by piece and reassembling them to make collage on a wood panel. During the process. I adjust the values with the acrylic. My dream fantasies of the Great Lakes and rockeries are fused together into my dreamscapes during the working process. 

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Be myself is the most important lesson I’ve learned 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.luzhenqiu.art
• Facebook: luzhen.qiu.5