Presented in conjunction with "Guo Fengyi: To See from a Distance," curators Olivia Shao and Bob Nickas will convene for a conversation about the contemporary art world and its handling of self-taught art. Please note that conversation will be offered in English and ASL. Guo Fengyi (b. 1942, Xi-an) was a self taught artist who practiced qigong to alleviate her chronic arthritis pain. While practicing this ancient Chinese wellness technique, Fengyi drew intricate ink drawings and developed an imaginative, mystical, and deeply personal visual language. About the Exhibition "Guo Fengyi: To See from a Distance" is the first major institutional presentation of the Chinese artist’s work in the United States. The exhibition features more than thirty works from Guo’s brief yet prolific career, including drawings executed on book and calendar pages and on cloth, as well as small- and large-scale drawings on rice-paper scrolls. Spanning two floors of The Drawing Center’s galleries, To See from a Distance provides an overview of Guo’s visionary drawings, which incorporate the diagrammatic, the mystical, and the wildly imaginative. Born in 1942 in Xi’an, Guo began making art in her late forties after debilitating arthritis forced her into early retirement from a job at a chemical fertilizer factory. To alleviate her chronic pain, Guo devoted herself to qigong—an ancient Chinese wellness and healing technique that combines coordinated movements, breathing, and meditation. Qigong allowed Guo, who did not have an academic art training, to develop a deeply personal and symbolically charged visual language. During her meditations, Guo drew what she envisioned, creating intricate ink drawings on subjects ranging from cosmology and Chinese mythology to traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy.