QIN XIUPING ｜ 秦 修 平
QIN XIUPING (b. 1973)
Representative of China’s dynamic post-70s ink generation, Qin Xiuping has forged an artistic idiom that manages to be simultaneously architectonic and deeply emotive. Holding a PhD from Nanjing University of the Arts and working as a full-time painter at the prestigious Jiangsu Provincial Chinese Painting Institute, he enjoys the rare luxury of complete creative focus.
Qin’s compositions reveal masterful understanding of how structural discipline can serve emotional expression. He begins with sweeping washes that establish monumental landscape silhouettes, then overlays these foundations with precisely controlled calligraphic marks that add both visual tension and conceptual clarity. The resulting images read simultaneously as natural formations and psychological maps, creating paintings that function as bridges between external observation and interior experience.
This synthesis reflects broader questions facing contemporary Chinese artists: how to inherit tradition meaningfully while addressing contemporary concerns. Qin’s solution involves treating historical precedent not as constraint but as foundation, a launching point for explorations that remain culturally grounded while embracing formal innovation. His crystalline mountain forms hover between figuration and abstraction, suggesting both monumental natural phenomena and intimate emotional geography.
Redemption (2013) achieved RMB 1.265 million (~US $180k) at Poly Beijing in 2014, confirming rising market interest in artists who treat tradition as springboard rather than limitation. Qin represents a generation that inherits China’s artistic legacy as resource rather than burden, proving that compelling contemporary work often emerges from deep engagement with historical practice.
Selected Artworks
Dragon-Taming Arhat
78x150cm/30.7x59in
Ink and Color on Paper
2024
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Warm Sunshine
52x87cm/20.5×34.1in
Ink and Color on Paper
2024
US$ 11,500
Emerald Jade
96X48cm/37.8×18.9in
Ink and Color on Paper
2022
US$ 11,650
Rippling Grace
96X48cm/37.8×18.9in
Ink and Color on Paper
2022
US$ 11,650
Pine Perched Arhat
150x78cm/59×30.7in
Ink and Color on Paper
2024
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Botanical Haven
75×77.5cm/29.5×30.5in
Ink and Color on Paper
2024
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Drunken Flower Shade
77.5x150cm/30.5×59.1in
Ink and Color on Paper
2024
US$ 30,000
Dreams Beneath the Paulownia Tree
63x106cm/24.8×41.7in
Ink and Color on Paper
2024
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Peach Glow
34x150cm/13.4×59.1in
Ink and Color on Paper
2022
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