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Tongji Philip Qian: if i may


Spotlight Series

Curated by Larry Lee

This exhibition invites visitors to notice how a starting point shapes what they see and how they move through the space. Designed with two entrances, it questions whether a room that appears “balanced” actually changes the experience for different visitors—or only signals that it does.

Through graph-paper drawings, layered text-based works, and gestural paintings that partially obscure underlying lines, Qian examines thresholds, implied paths, and the difference between a layout that looks equal and an experience that feels equal.

Tongji Philip Qian is a multidisciplinary artist and the co-founder of TPQ Studio. His artistic practice extends the limit of artmaking through conceptual lenses such as speed, labor, internationalism, and immigration. Rooted in images and words, Qian’s research investigates knowledge production in contemporary art with a scholarly focus on movements such as Minimalism, Post-Minimalism, and Conceptual art. He is currently a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and a Harper-Schmidt Fellow at the University of Chicago.

 

Meet the Artist

 

Selected Work

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Hai-Wen Lin: drobe