We chatted to talented artist and alumni of Birmingham School of Art, Mengyao Qin to talk about settling in the city, her extraordinary creations and her unstoppable work ethic
We were lucky enough to view some of Mengyao Qin’s work as part of a residency at the Grand Hotel and we were blown away. One of the pieces titled Love Letter and inspired by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production of Don Quixote was particularly pleasing, capturing the fluidity and energy of dance beautifully. It’s a stunning large-scale static piece painted onto satin fabric but you’re just as likely to see Mengyao’s work flowing free unattached to a frame or a structure.
She’s constantly pushing boundaries, trying new techniques and materials, never staying still. Mengyao’s work has been exhibited the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Ikon Gallery and Sanyu Art Museum as well as the residency at the Grand Hotel. We caught up with Mengyao to find out what drives and inspires her and why she chose Birmingham as a place to live and work.
In her work, Mengyao explores the intersection of her Chinese heritage and her life in the UK, blending traditional Chinese painting techniques with abstract expressionism. Mengyao says: “I think my work is insatiable. There is always a need to make something more, and to make something different. I find satisfaction in the process of making, but what excites me most is always what comes next.”
She adds: “I think of my paintings as having their own agency and mobility. They are not made to stay quietly within the boundaries of a gallery. I’m interested in what happens when paintings trespass into image, object, body, architecture and event. A painting can morph into a costume, curtain, stage, character or temporary environment. I allow paintings to enter different situations, observe them, participate in them and change according to where they find themselves.”
In terms of inspiration, Mengyao views art as a web that connects many strings in life. She says: “The things that move me, the things I want to keep, and the things I want to articulate; I use painting as a language to experience and express things that might be hard to express otherwise. I’m always deeply influenced by music, dance and film; I admire their forms, and I borrow tension, composition and mythology from them.”
BIRMINGHAM BOUND
We met one of Mengyao’s tutors from Birmingham School of Art where she studied for an MA in Fine Art, who was stunned by the artist’s extraordinary work ethic. We put this to Mengyao and wonder what it is that drives her. She says: “I remember an artist and art critic, Chen Danqing once saying that artists and scholars are born to be. It doesn’t mean they are geniuses, but they have to do it. Nothing can stop them, so they continue doing it, and become the kind of people they want to be.”
Leaving China to study in Birmingham was a big move for Mengyao and represented her first time studying abroad. She recalls: “I didn’t have any family or relatives in this country, so everything was new. But there’s something in the character of Birmingham that I recognised from my own hometown, Sichuan: a certain rawness, roughness and honesty in people. This is the kind of place where you can simply be yourself without disguise, and where people care about each other.” Mengyao credits a group of inspiring tutors at the School of Art with supporting her and introducing her to different ways of thinking and creating. She adds: “They also generously offered opportunities beyond the school, which helped me to build a strong foundation for my practice. I met Charles Pedone through my degree show, which led to many exciting projects, including an art residency at the Grand Hotel.” Fellow artist Charles Pedone has supported and nurtured a number of artists including Mengyao through the Pedone Collective.
DANCE INFLUENCE
Going back to the Don Quixote painting, the dance connection is strong. When Mengyao moved to Birmingham she began looking for a suitable ballet class and found one in the Birmingham Royal Ballet building. She was inspired to go to a production – her first one as an adult and watched The Nutcracker. She remembers: “It was both exhilarating and inspiring. In ballet class, I feel the connection between using the body to embody a piece of music and my own experience of playing the violin. Now I make large paintings, and I feel there is a universal tone embedded in those art forms. I feel so excited to touch that. I feel ballet is a temporal painting where dancers use their bodies to construct brushstrokes through time with the composition of music, as well as the colours of costumes and set design.” Since then Mengyao’s work has been influenced by ballet one way or another and she’s excited about a possible collaboration to come. Watch this space.
Mengyao also has a new project coming up with Estorick Collection in London where she’ll introduce the idea of reading painting as a movement score and invite audiences to interpret a piece of painting through their own movement. Mengyao explains: “The project aims to tease the assumption of how you should approach a painting in a gallery. You don’t have to like a painting or read it with a solemn face. You can disagree with it and you can play with it too.”