A prominent member of the post-1980s generation of Chinese artists and a former assistant of Ai Wewei, the Beijing artist talks about his visually stunning, anti-authoritarian and provocative work. Lilly Wei talked to the artist in his Beijing studio in 2015

Xu Qu graduated with a MFA in Fine Arts and Film at Braunschweig University of Art, and currently lives and works in Beijing. Xu Qu's art practice investigates aesthetic considerations behind social connections. He attempts to dismiss any unnecessary elements that distract from the theme, using a minimalist approach to simplify the picture. The...