Qian Xiao
Born in China in 1971, Qian Xiao studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and taught art for 20 years. Now based in Gatineau, Quebec, she combines acrylics, oils, watercolor, and mixed media to explore themes of memory, identity, and technology. Her work fuses layered materials and embedded components to evoke the interplay of dream and reality, guiding viewers from surface to inner self. Xiao’s innovative technique reflects a sophisticated dialogue between materiality and meaning.Qian Xiao was born in China in 1971, and currently lives in Gatineau, Quebec. Her father was an oil painter, and she worked as an art teacher in high school for 20 years after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts. She spent most of her life in a very traditional and classical artistic environment. However, she is inquisitive and bold, she likes to try different materials of paint, including oil painting, watercolor, acrylic, and pastel. She is interested in combining different painting techniques is her painting, and she has devoted all her time and energy in this area for many years. Finally, she discovered the water-based acrylics are highly compatible with other materials, which allows her to be able to express her ideas in the painting without limitation. With the transparent, translucent and opaque characteristics of acrylic, Qian fuses the unspeakable dream and reality into poetry.
Besides the great skill of utilizing different painting materials and techniques, Qian is also trying to incorporate all kinds of components in her painting to reflect the unique intertwined relation among herself, her past, and her hopes in people. For example, one of Qian’s painting series “The secret garden” articulates the undividable and lingering love through the expression of the natural bond among women, flowers and hummingbirds. Her “Body · Mind · Spirit” series interpret the close-up shot of the heart of iris flower as a symbol of consciousness. She wants to guide people from the external appearance to the deeper inner self, and further remind people to care and love the real inner feeling of themselves. Last but not least, by integrating the inlaid chips and electronic components, her “TECH-SOUL” series triggers people’s discussion of the original motivations of inventing and having technology in our lives.
In sum, she believes that artwork is only a bridge between the audience and herself. It connects the concrete part and the abstract part. As an artist, she is doing her best to transform ideas into a concrete piece, and hopefully, the message can be extracted and extended out to the audience. She believes the real world is complicated and people are sophisticated. With the ability of fusing different painting materials and techniques, and the possibility of incorporating various components, her work can shine through the world and reach into your heart.
