Chunxiao Qu is a Chinese-born artist and poet living and working in Melbourne, Australia. Her practice is largely focused on language, spanning various media including neon installation, painting, sculpture, and screen print. Qu has exhibited in both solo and group shows in Australia and Europe, most recently she has presented the solo exhibitions “An artist doesn’t need a label” (La Trobe Art Institute Bendigo, Curated by Amelia Wallin) and “COPY” (99% Gallery Melbourne, Curated by Chelsea Hopper).

In recent years, Qu has worked consistently with LED neon lighting to present her text-based work; the ambiance of the lighting dovetails with the self-reflectivity of the writing itself. Qu’s work explores the flexibility and contradictions of language in attempts to posit questions and test truisms on contemporary precarity and beauty. 

Qu explores various modes of conceptual installation, often working with very minimal forms and structures. Her work is at once both concise and deeply inquisitive, playful and pointed. 

Or perhaps alternatively, as Chunxiao Qu states herself, “Works of art are like jokes: They’re not good if you have to explain them”. 

Qu has published two poetry collections: This poetry book is too good to have a name & Logic Poetry (Melbourne: Discipline, 2022) and Popcorn: Porn of Poetry (Melbourne: no more poetry, 2021).