Qin Yifeng’s art departs from basic visual elements and develops into rational yet profuse and complex abstract imagery. His ongoing series of Line Field initiated around 1992 is deeply intertwined with the artist’s aesthetic accomplishments in the fields of Chinese calligraphy and Ming Dynasty style furniture. Works of Line Field from the early stage were often rich in color and contained a cube as an intermediary through which illusion and space is dissected. Through the artistic practice, Qin realized his strong demand of a balance between rationality and sensitivity, and set out to achieve this in his art.
Later on, Qin left out the cube and continued his aesthetic journey with only lines of various brushworks and a more restrained palette, displaying his thoughts on forms, space, illusion and frames of mind. At the same time, paper gradually took over canvas to become the major base material for the artist. To Qin, working on paper is close to the experience of calligraphy, during which his perception becomes sharper. He uses acrylic paint to outline the composition of the drawing on which pencil and charcoal would then blend with the acrylic. Here, the faint luster of pencil and granular detail of charcoal give the image a loose feature, which is quite different from the steadiness of ink, resulting in a rich and exquisite texture when appreciated closely.
