Ink art, reframed approach

Before he was recognized by the art world, Qi once described himself as "eking out a life at the grassroots" to imply his underprivileged situation and his uncertainties of the future, just like those small lives he painted which encountered struggles but still were determined to succeed.

Qi once wrote in a poem: "The garden is thriving, and all the plants are interlinked."

It inspired curators at the Beijing Fine Art Academy to mount an art museum exhibition, titled Flourishing Lives, Interconnected Cultures, to celebrate the vigorous world in Qi's oeuvre.

The Beijing Fine Art Academy, established in 1957, the year Qi passed away, was built upon a donation from Qi of his works and collections for future research. The master artist is remembered as the academy's first and only honorary president.

The exhibition, running until Dec 25, also marks the China-Italy year of culture and tourism, using Qi's depictions of insects and plants as a channel for a dialogue between the two cultures.