The Syntax of Vitality is a watercolour by Ziqi Chen, a graduate from the MLitt Contemporary Art Practice programme, commissioned by The Glasgow School of Art to create a new work that celebrates the New Year. This newly commission painting will hang in the foyer of the School’s Reid Building for the duration of the New Year Festival period, and will then be donated to the Wing Hong Centre in Garnethill, a community centre dedicated to supporting elderly Chinese people in Glasgow.
2026 is the Year of the Horse. In the Zodiac, the horse symbolises independence, progress, energy and freedom. Ziqi’s painting is a surrealist juxtaposition of imagery, deconstructed to represent the noble virtues of the horse. The horse is represented as a toy pony, an embodiment of happiness and innocence. Other motifs in the painting include the tulip, which dominates the frame, symbolising universal love and triumph. Other motifs include the clownfish, which here symbolises inclusiveness because of its ability to coexist with toxic sea anemones; the swallow represents the spring and freedom; the hand acts a symbol of acceptance; and the Möbius strip represents perpetual renewal and bids farewell to the Year of the Snake. Put together, and with the movement of tulip blossoms, the composition, forms an ‘infinity’ symbol conveying the promise of an open future filled with endless possibility.
Further information about Ziqi Chen’s work and projects can be found on Instagram and also on the GSA student showcase HERE
About the Artist
Ziqi Chen is an artist and illustrator based in Glasgow. With an interdisciplinary background bridging art and technology, she has developed a methodology that brings analytical thinking into visual creation, allowing her work to merge rational structure with artistic sensibility. Her work has been exhibited in numerous locations across the UK, China, and Germany.
Working primarily in watercolour, she adopts juxtaposition as a central methodology, exploring the visual convergence of organic forms and artificial constructs. Refusing to confine herself to a fixed trajectory, her practice shifts in response to evolving areas of focus. Currently she is exploring the interplay between the natural and the synthetic amid conditions of information over-saturation in the post-digital era. Through a bold, vivid colour palette and symbolic motifs, her work examines how opposing materials and symbolic systems can coexist and interact on a single surface. This approach reflects a broader inquiry into contemporary image perception within an increasingly saturated visual environment.
About The Glasgow School of Art (GSA)
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading independent university-level institutions for education and research in the visual creative disciplines. Our studio-based, specialist, practice-led teaching, learning and research draw talented individuals with a shared passion for visual culture and creative production from all over the world.
Originally founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, the School’s history can be traced back to 1753 and the establishment of the Foulis Academy delivering a European-style art education. Today, the GSA is an international community of over 3500 students and staff across architecture, design, fine art, innovation and technology in our campuses in Glasgow and Altyre (in the Scottish Highlands) and a thriving Open Studio programme delivering non-degree provision to over 1500 students annually.
