After 8 years living in Beijing, last year I realised my ability to keep my mind free of thoughts was sensibly impaired, a nice way to say that I couldn't keep my head hassle-free for longer than a bunch of seconds. Then at the end of 2017 I (re)approached meditation - I had a couple of years liaison with it 20 years ago, but back I guess it was too narcissistic to last - and this time was true love. I cannot help but noticing that a lot of outstanding works in the field of art and craftsmanship are the outcome of 'meditative' practices: Kong Lingxin wakes up and spends all day drawing in pencil, like she did as a kid. Superb elegance and simplicity naturally arise...
In the Chinese art community, Kong Lingxin's work has been widely praised for its simplicity and elegance—characteristics rarely seen among the younger generations of artists in China. Kong's first solo show, "Unit Time" (Shijian Danwei) at ArtDepot in Beijing’s 798 art district, is a mesmerizing series of black and white works drawn in pencil. Architectural but tender, her works explore the concept of time.
Lixin is a CAFA laureate and studied under famed master Chen Wenji, whose distinctive dimension of inner exploration echoes in her work. We meet the artist at her show to discuss her process and philosophies. "Time is a fascinating measure, you can divide it, you can see it passing and you can count it, and yet it’s an abstraction from reality," she says. Lines, textures, and shades in her pieces play on a feeling of suspension. Beside philosophical concept, she says, "Each single painting can be considered a unit of time, since it takes on average two months to finish one, so you could say one piece sold is a portion of existence given away."