<Potted Plant in the Forest>

Qiu Xiaofei’s works employ vivid, lavish colors intertwined with the surreal, metaphor-rich imagery of magical realism, reconstructing a mysterious world where painting and humanity converge. Themes such as history, guardianship, birth, and death interweave, ultimately forming an enigmatic landscape. Qiu’s inspiration extends from personal family memories to his nostalgia for childhood days spent in his hometown, Harbin. Dilapidated churches fused with utilitarian “Worker’s Homes” morph into futuristic architectures, while peculiar scenes emerging from dense forests become vessels for these memories and fantasies. In these paintings, the father, children, cats, birth, growth, aging, death, history, the present, and the future dissolve into a cyclical, boundary-blurring unity.