Xiaoqing's portrait - photo by Vlad Voloshin
Xiaoqing: "I wouldn’t mind to have another life on another planet, somewhere in another galaxy with nice weather and dream looking views and I get wings on my back and don’t need to eat or cook or sh*t… just feel happy and peaceful all the time"
BPP: Who are
you?
Xiaoqing : I am Xiaoqing（小青）,
it means "little aqua" in Chinese, something light and cheerful in my
parent's expectations. If you see my name somewhere as "Xiaoquing",
that's me in the hands of Europeans,
because "qi" doesn't make too much sense as part of a name, nor does
"X" .
Xiaoqing's portrait - photo by Vlad Voloshin
Xiaoqing's portrait - photo by Gwladys Kirschner
BPP: And who
you really are?
Xiaoqing : I do ask
this question sometimes when I see myself in the mirror in the middle of the
night. it's a scary feeling not to
recognize myself!
I am a
Chinese-born, New York- based painter. I've been living and working in central
France for a year. I feel more like a Gypsy in a way, moving around from city
to city. I enjoy my life as an artist, although it feels like in jail when I
have to catch a deadline, it’s a sweet jail
after all.
BPP: If
you could say something important to others who were listening, what would you
tell them?
Xiaoqing : Listen to
yourself, not to me or anyone else. Stay positive, things are not as bad as you
thought most of the time.
BPP: What
is your true dream, the one that keeps you up at night and if one day it were
to come true you would feel peace and calmness in your heart?
Xiaoqing :I’ve been working
hard and chasing my dreams for a long time, many of them already came true,
like the one that I have made after I saw a shooting star when I was little” I
wish that I could eat as much deserts as I wanted” , it doesn’t sounds like a
dream when you are in France J
I can’t
say which one is my true dream. I just don't want to feel too much regrets and
self- pity before I die. There will be no peace and calmness unless I feel like
that I am making some progress on my art or life.
2w.jpg)
BPP: How
is life currently for the people in your country and what would you wish for
them and for the planet at large?
Xiaoqing : As a
Chinese-American, my feeling goes to both China and United State. It makes
things more complicated to have two hearts. The two countries don't really
trust or even like each other that much. I do think things will getting better
if everybody place their heart and role in the right place. Love can melt hate, at large.
BPP: If
you had a chance to be a child again would you choose the same life?
Xiaoqing: It would be
horrible to go back to my childhood in the1970’s at China. I would have to sing songs like” I love chairman Mao
and Tananmen square very much” everyday. It wasn’t that bad at the time, most
kids wouldn’t mind sing whatever they have heard from the radio, and there
wasn’t anything else on the radio, after all. I just
can’t force myself to believe those lies on the political textbooks and wasting
my time on all the mathematical tests, I won’t pass any of them anyway.
For me, it
won’t be fun to be a kid again anywhere in this world. Would be a nightmare to
put the braces back into my mouth and dream about all my teeth got knocked off by it. I bet not many people
enjoy all the weird sh*t happens during the puberty… who honestly wants to go
back to freaky things like that again?
It’s a smart and charming thing to say ”there’s a kid inside you” to someone, it could mean : "why you always do stupid things?”
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I wouldn’t
mind to have another life on another planet, somewhere in another galaxy with
nice weather and dream looking views and I get wings on my back and don’t need
to eat or cook or sh*t… just feel happy and peaceful all the time… That’s the
fantasy which keeps me up at night, wondering about the unknown universe and
let my sprit fly, it answers the “true dream question” as well.
BPP: What
was the exact moment that you realized what you wanted to do with your life?
How did you feel at this very moment?
Xiaoqing : I had a
pretty bad Childhood( that’s the true reason that I don’t want to be a kid
again), I didn’t like school at all and I wasn’t good at anything but art. I
had a wonderful mentor named “zhang Ken” back to junior high, he gave me free
art classes and he guided me to a new
wonderland full of freedom and joy and
hope. I was 13 by them. I still remember
those cold winter nights, after the boring school day, I was on my way to the
art classes by bicycle with a my sketchpad on the back. I was so happy and
excited, every class opens a new door for me and I was on top of the colorful
clouds. It was the happiest time of my life.
BPP: Would
you like to tell us something we didn’t ask until now?
Xiaoqing : I will have to do some shameless commercial here. I have
few pieces in an exhibition named “ Freak weave” in the Museum of eroticism in
Paris right now, it will be there until April 15th 2013.
Please
check out:
Stop by if you are not under 18 (not
sure about the French law, they seems much more open minded regarding this type
of the things). It’s a very artistic museum. I promise you will be amazed by
their wonderful collection.
If you want to learn more about Xioqing Ding, please visit:
Education
2001 Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture.
2001 MFA Hoffberger School of painting, Maryland Institute College of Art.
1995 BA Central Academy of Arts and Design, Beijing, China
1990 Graduate with Honors Beijing Arts and Crafts School, China
Award and Fellowship
2006 Artists Alliance Studio Program NYC
2005 Henry Street Settlement, NYC, Fellowship
2005 The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, PA, Fellowship
2005 KHN Center for the Arts, Nebraska City, Fellowship
2005 Galesburg Civic Art Center Illinois, Fellowship
2005 Artists’ Enclave at I-Park Connecticut, Fellowship
2005 Rocky Mountain National Park Artist-In –Residence Program Fellowship
2005 The Julia and David White Artists’ Colony Fellowship
2004 Atlantic Center For the Arts Fellowship
2004 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship
2002 Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Artist Grant
2001 The Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation Grant
2001 The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant
2001 MFA Excellence painting Award, Maryland Institute College of Art
2001 Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown fellowship
2001 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture summer full scholarship
Solo Exhibitions
2010 Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC
2007 Roq La Rue gallery, Seattle.
2004 Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe
2003 DNA Gallery, Provincetown
2002 Hudson D. Walker Gallery, MA
1998 Ponka City Art Center, Oklahoma.
Group Exhibitions
2010 Lead Poisoning”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC.
2010 Five Year Anniversary Show, Jonathan Levine Gallery. NYC
2009 “Make love no war”, Art Next gallery, NYC
2009 “Monster” show, CoproNason gallery, CA
2008 Jonathan Levine gallery at Aqua and Scope Miami.
2008 “Know” show at Gen Art Vangard Fair, Art Miami.
2008 Hi-Fructose Group art Exhibition. CoproNason Gallery, CA.
2008 “The tales we tell”, Lonsdale Gallery , Toronto.
2008 Separate lives, Jonathan Levine Gallery, NY.
2007 Art Basel Miami, Pop Art Studios.
2007 Aqua Art Miami, Roq La Rue Gallery.
2007 Asian Contemporary Art Fair. 2x13 Gallery, NYC.
2007 The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
2007 Two person show, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle.
2007 Jonathan Levine Gallery. NY
2007 The Reality Show, 2x13 Gallery, NYC
2007 Fever Pitch, Delaware Art Museum, Delaware.
2006 The Variety Show, Falling Cow Gallery, Philadelphia.
2006 “Blush” Bambi Gallery, Philadelphia
2006 The Arts Center, St. Petersburg, Florida
2006 “Fresh”, Museum of Glass, International Center for Contemporary Art. Washington
2006 “Art for Healing”, Mushroom Arts, NYC
2005 Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe
2006 Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe
2006 Moore Gallery of Art & Design, Philadelphia
2005 New Erotix, Art @Large Gallery, NYC
2005 The Puffin Room Gallery, NYC
2005 Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe
2005 Cahoon Museum of American Art, MA
2003 JMF show, CUE Foundation, NYC
2002 PFAWC, Boston Center for the Arts
2002 Genetic Imprints, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA
"Swing" drawing for BPProject
Photos copyright by Xaioqing Ding, Gwladys Kirschner, Vlad Voloshin . All rights reserved.
ALL CONTENT © ISMINI KARALI 2011 - 2012. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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