Liu Ye

signed in Chinese and Pinyin and dated 2001-02; signed and titled in Chinese and dated 2001 on the reverse

Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

China, Chengdu, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Yangban Model Art in China: The First Chengdu Biennale, 15 December, 2001 – 15 January, 2002
Germany, Duisburg, Museum Kueppermuehle, 3 October, 2002 – 2 January, 2003; Hungary, Budapest, Ludwig Museum, 2003 ; Italy, Rome, Museo Arte Contemporanea di Rome, ChinArt, 2003
China, Hong Kong, Schoeni Art Gallery, Liu Ye: Red Yellow Blue, 2003, pp. 11 and 62
USA, New York, Sperone Westwater Gallery, Liu Ye: Temptations, 14 September - 28 October 2006, pp. 36-37
Switzerland, Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern, Liu Ye, 7 February - 1 April, 2007, pp. 46-47

Oriental Art Master No. 119, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China, October 2006, p.76
China Art Book: The 80 Most Renowned Chinese Artists, Dumont Buchverlag, Köln, Germany, 2007, p. 246

This work is generally in good condition. There are minor wear and handling marks around the edges, as well as very minor soiling on the surface. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A Whimsical Arena
Liu Ye

“I came of age in a world covered in red, red suns, red flags, red kerchiefs; even the green pines, blue cypresses, and sunflowers were just foils to this red cover.”

When asked by curator and art critic Leng Lin for his outlook on life, Liu Ye flatly replies, “I treat problems irrationally.”¹ This unapologetic irrationality can explain, perhaps at least partially, the fantastical backdrops and nonsensical characters the artist so endearingly paints. Unaccustomed to “thinking profoundly about problems”,² Liu Ye’s paintings are simple yet succinct summaries of the issues he faces in everyday life, his critical stance unfolding in humorous, drôle little details. Which is perhaps why, when one glimpses the work on offer, Sword (Lot 57), one is immediately taken aback; unaccustomed to the sorrow the piece exudes. The painting is from a series of three works of the same size, all painted between 2001 to 2002. Both the other works, Smoke and Gun, are unavailable from the market; the former kept in a private collection, while the latter is currently held in M+ Sigg museum collection, allowing the spotlight to fall on Sword, a piece that far surpasses its companions in its poignancy and vivid nostalgia. Its ability to capture the same surrealist whimsicality that has become tantamount to the artist’s work, while combining in equal parts Western and Chinese influences, allows this piece to stand out in all of its exceptional rarity.

Sword depicts two identical little girls on opposite sides of a canyon of sorts. Their background is a great expanse of vermilion, with green shrubs edging into the canvas. The arresting view is filled with an underlying sense of danger; as can be felt through the vague outline of portentous hills, and the icy blues of the cliffs below. Thrust into this canvas of peril are the two round-faced little girls, in both their hands are clasped long swords. They stare defiantly at one another, one solitary tear rolling down each of their cheeks.

The composition of the painting plays an important role in representing its sadness. Heavily reminiscent of landscape painting trends from the Song Dynasty, Sword projects the same principles from the time period. In general, Song art was governed by Daoist ideologies that saw humanity for all its frivolity, emphasising the insignificance of mankind in the face of nature and the cosmos at large through vast canvases of landscape, such as can be seen in works like Xia Gui’s Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains. Yet perhaps in contrast to this, the Southern Song period also developed a consciousness for the minutiae of the human condition; and where people were exclusively depicted, paintings portrayed intimate scenes of human life. These pieces were set against sparse backgrounds, allowing the focus of the painting to fall on the characters themselves. One can see the beginnings of this technique in Spinning Wheel, a piece by Wang Juzheng, an artist who lived during the latter part of the Northern Song, just as Southern Song interests were emerging.

Similarly, the background in Sword exceptionally borrows from Song styles, and seemingly draws our attention away from its characters’ importance. The background of the piece steals our gaze, dyeing the entire canvas a vibrant orange verging on red, as rich subdued greens frame the piece. And yet, this feigned indifference collapses in the two gleaming teardrops; the stoicism of the little girls dissipating in one moment. The grandness of the piece no doubt allows for a distanced exploration of a realm beyond humanity; yet its grandeur seems also to render the fragility of the little girls all the more simple and particularly heartrending.

The execution of the painting is also a curious blend of East-meets- West. While the style of the painting is intensely Asian and looks back to a strong history of Chinese art, Western styles of shading and shaping are employed to convey such things as the fleeciness of the treetops or the jagged coldness of the blades. The youth of the girls’ faces is reflected by the suppleness of their skin and by the glowing sheen on their cheeks. They are doll-like and barely real; two statuettes standing in a scene of isolation. They are also oddly reminiscent of the two female leads in Ang Lee’s award winning film, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; posed in a showdown of might and skill.

In the mid-90s, Liu returned to China after a four year period of study in Germany; returning during the difficult times China was experiencing. This time of painful changes and social unrest is an unsurprising reason behind the artist’s refuge in a time long-passed; the unreachable “golden time” of his childhood. After experiencing intense loneliness during his study abroad, this sense of sadness is redoubled. When asked by art critic Zhu Zhu whether he felt so lonely during his years in Germany that he began speaking to himself in a mirror, Liu Ye neither affirms nor denies the accusation, instead only cites the poet Bei Dao’s verse, “Speaking Chinese to a mirror”³. Bearing this in mind, the use of reflections or mirrored images in Liu’s works are heavily evocative of this solitary period. The two identical girls in Sword are echoes of this former melancholy, and serve as an insight into the artist’s psyche.

As aforementioned, childhood for Liu is a sanctuary that is out of reach. One of the most frequently used symbols of evoking this childhood is the artist’s use of the colour red. “I came of age in a world covered in red, red suns, red flags, red kerchiefs,”⁴ reminisced Liu in a dialogue with Zhu Zhu. The colour represents for the artist a distant childhood; of simpler times unsullied by the pains of adulthood. The intensity of the red we find in Sword is a wilful evocation of this time, yet its waning radiance also reminds one of a setting sun, as if the sobering blues of adulthood are slowly creeping into the canvas via the cobalt vines of the cliffs below.

More so than anything else, Sword is a candid expression of the pains of adulthood. In spite of their childlike demeanours, braided plaits and schoolgirl uniforms, Liu’s girls are maturing. Much like Balthus’ young female figures, they are on the cusp of adulthood, plunged into a violence that they don’t quite understand. Such violence can be found in works such as The Room (1952), where there is also an unnerving, latent sense of the erotic prevalent in the piece. Balthus’ heroines seem powerless in his depictions of them, entirely unaware of the questionable postures they are placed in. Likewise, Liu’s protagonists in Sword seem ignorant of the dangers the weapons in their hands represent. So unwilling do they seem to fight, yet the fight seems inevitable somehow; as if this fight to the death is symbolic of a farewell to their childhoods.

“I always feel that I live every moment in a fairy tale world,”⁵ Liu once said. When we inspect Sword, this sense of the fairy tale world takes a dark turn. Although the elements are all present—the nebulous, fantastical backdrop, the school-skirt-wearing girls, and the unashamed wash of red— this particular Liu Ye piece contrasts heavily with its light-hearted

companions. Although Sword is still reliant on the same whimsical components that make up so many of the artist’s works, it seems conscious of the finite amount of time childhood has, giving us a glimmer into the artist’s inner world.

1 “Questions and Answers, Leng Lin and Liu Ye”, Liu Ye, Mingjingdi Gallery, 1997, p.42
2 Refer to 1
3 Zhu Zhu, “Beginning with Leni Riefenstahl: Interviewing Liu Ye”, Today, 2008
4 “Zhu Zhu: An Aged Childhood”, Liu Ye: mit Essays von Bernhard Fibicher und Zhu
Zhu, Kunstmuseum Bern, 2007, p.75
5 Refer to 1