Monochrome images, that is images in which only shades of a single color are used, have a nice reduced, minimalist look to them. When the saturation and contrast between used shades is low, the images seem airy and ephemeral. The effect can for instance often be seen in black and white photographs in light grey tones.

Being a fan of this look, I visited the exhibition Scheinbar: nichts – Bildwelten von Qiu Shihua im Dialog in the Situation Kunst exhibiton space in Bochum (prolonged until 05.05.2019). Qiu Shihua is a contemporary chinese artist born in 1940. He is known for his monochrome white landscape paintings. His work is rooted in chinese landscape painting and taoist philosophy.

Glancing at the paintings shortly give the impression that this must be some kind of concept art hoax.

Only when viewed from a distance, and after some time, when the eyes have adapted to the very low contrast, do deep landscapes with trees, lakes, sunlight, waves and clouds appear from the white mist. This is something that one really needs to experience standing in front of the paintings. Because Qiu Shihua works with very subtle shades of white, it is quite difficult to capture this effect in photographs. Here are two photos where the landscapes are somewhat visible:

For me this was the most impressive contemporary art I’ve seen in some time. Qiu Shihua is apparently one of the most outstanding artists in the field of monochrome painting. And his work is a reminder of the wonder which the human eye is, being able to discern about 10 million different colors. Maybe we should give it a chance from time to time do so.