A solo exhibition of 11 digital photographs from a new body of work by Jiawei Gong was on view in the Dubuque Museum of Art’s McNamer Gallery. Gong taught at Loras College in 2007 and is currently in charge of the Digital Media program in the Fine Arts Department at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. He uses digital media and interactive web art in practicing his creative ideas. These images were originally captured photographically while visiting Qi Gong Grandmaster Letian in California, in 2009. Jiawei asked him to perform his energy-infused writing gestures while holding a light. The movements were recorded using an extremely slow shutter speed. The editing process includes restructuring, recompositing, and retouching the captured graphics and then adding background visual elements to create a narrative or an abstraction based on the context of each piece.

Image: Jiawei Gong, Celestical Writings #10: YYPH, 2009-11, digital photograph, collection of the artist.