Food for thought

The 52-year-old artist learned Chinese calligraphy when he was a little boy. He graduated from the printmaking department of the China Academy of Art in 1992. He was recognized by the art circle in China for his labor-intensive project of copying a fourth-century Chinese calligraphy work more than 4,000 times on the same paper over seven years. His art is regarded as a representative of experimental communication between the Chinese literati tradition and contemporary art.

"Chinese calligraphy's daily use can be seen in history. For example, a doctor wrote a prescription, and a poet wrote a letter to a friend," says Qiu, explaining his reason behind holding the exhibition in the food market.

He says in ancient China, people didn't display calligraphy works in museums. The art was found in buildings, because calligraphy pieces often hung on pillars, and intellectuals wrote calligraphy on fans.

To an extent, nature is the best place for Chinese calligraphy, Qiu says.

Many good calligraphy works from ancient times were found on rocks and cliffs of mountains. When Qiu was a teenager, he often went to mountainous areas with his calligraphy teacher to get rubbings from inscriptions on stones, which is a good model for learners to copy and practice.

"I think the best relationship between art and viewers is 'living in art'. But what we do is to build houses to lock art in," says Qiu, who is also director of the School of Experimental Art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

He uses ink brushes in daily life. He writes in ink on his notebooks and work reports.

When he ended his interview with China Daily at the food market, Qiu was asked by a couple there to write Chinese characters on their aprons. The couple, who live in a community nearby, had just bought vegetables and eggs from the market. "That's real art for the people," the woman says.