Artist Statement

Qiurui Du paints the theater of contemporary life, where everyone is the protagonist, and a show unfolds in every corner.

Drawing from childhood memories in Beijing and observations of China's dizzying transformation, Du constructs exaggerated, theatrical worlds where intimate experiences collide with collective anxieties. Through densely layered narratives and chromatic saturation, Du's canvases capture what lies beneath the surface of modern urban existence: the sadness hidden by bright colors, the doubt masked by noisy joy, the impermanence disguised as stability.

In the Dama Wang series, Du employs the figure of the Chinese middle-aged woman. an individual full of contradictions and collective memories. as a guide into satirical scenarios that expose the absurdities of a rapidly modernizing society. The Telenovelas and Non-Fashionable Lifestyle series turn their lens on consumer culture, fitness crazes, and Instagram-worthy destinations, revealing how urban dwellers are shrouded in the "consumerist illusion of a fashionable lifestyle." In Nuclear Family, Du probes the collision of traditional and contemporary values, interrogating modern gender relations and the transformation of identity itself.

Du's aesthetic vocabulary. vivid pinks, electric blues, acid greens—functions as both seduction and camouflage. The joyful atmosphere and witty character interactions belie deeper currents of anxiety and unease. Each painting operates as a theatrical stage where multiple narratives unfold simultaneously, their collision amplifying emotional intensity and making the absurdity more complex, more human.

Trained at Parsons and Pratt, Du synthesizes camp aesthetics, melodrama, and dark humor into a visual language uniquely suited to capturing contemporary China's contradictions. The work doesn't resolve these tensions—it dwells in them, inviting viewers to recognize themselves in the chaos.

Because for Du, beneath the performance of happiness lies a more honest story: one of fleeting doubt, hidden sadness, and the beautiful, terrible impermanence of our time.