Liu Wei

signed in Chinese and dated 1992.1, framed

Private Asian Collection

China's New Art, Post-1989, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China, 1993, p. 79
Germany, Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt; The Netherlands, Kunsthal Rotterdam; UK, Oxford, The Museum of Modern Art; Denmark, Odense, Kunsthallen Brandts Kladefabrik, China Avant-garde, 1993-1994, p. 265
Beyond Boundaries, Shanghai Gallery of Art, China, 2003, p.100
Lu Hong, China Avant-Garde Art 1979-2004, Hebei Fine Art Publishing House, China, 2006, p. 148
Liu Wei, Red Bridge Gallery, Shanghai, China, 2008, p. 41
Lü Peng, A History of Art In Twentieth Century China, Edizioni Charta, Milan, Italy, 2010, p. 940
Liu Wei: A Solo Painter, Lin & Lin Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, 2012, p.11 and 42

This work is generally in good condition. There are minior scuff around the edges, with the most noticeable one measuring ca. 1.5 cm on the lower right corner, and pinpoint paint loss on the surface. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
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“I am not someone who follows trends. Someone who does is not lonely.”

Pioneer of Cynical Realism
Liu Wei

After the controversial closure of the “China/ Avant-Garde” exhibition in 1989, artists in China remained to be on the edge during the early 1990s. At the same time, the grand narrative of the ‘85 New Wave movement had lost its original momentum in the new decade, further forcing a young group of artists to search for a new direction and approach, focusing instead on the happenings of their daily lives. It is under this societal backdrop where the movement of “Cynical Realism” emerged. Taiwanese curator Hu

Yongfen mentioned in the essay Liu Wei’s the importance of the 90s in relation to the development of  Chinese art, “The Chinese art history at the time (the early 90s) had given way to a new generation,  one that grew out of a collective life and the only one that could portray the independent façade of contemporary art.”¹ Among them, Liu Wei is considered to be the earliest and most representative artists of the group.

From 1992, Dad in Front of TV Set (Lot 142) belongs to one of the earliest paintings from the Revolutionary Family series. The work is an exemplary record of a Chinese artist’s quest in finding his own unique voice and style during a drastic turn of history. Small in scale and often depicting his parents, The Revolutionary Family series was created in the home of the artist after he graduated from college. Among the works, Dad in Front of TV Set not only highlights the iconic image of his soldier father in a PLA uniform, but more importantly is the only work from the series to reveal distinctive geographical and temporal elements that speak of the 1990 decade in China, as shown by the CRT television set and Chinese opera figures showing inside. It is worth mentioning that the colour palette of the present work is much more vibrant and dynamic in comparison with the rest of the pieces, showcasing another side to understanding the historical meaning behind Liu Wei’s works. The entire Revolutionary Family series only lasted for three years, with only a few appearing on the market today. The iconic Dad in Front of TV Set is thus of rare art historical value, offering us a glimpse into the early artistic style of arguably the most talented artist in contemporary Chinese art.

According to the influential Chinese art critic Li Xianting, the nineties represented two major artistic currents: “Political Pop” and “Cynical Realism”. For Achille Oliva, the organiser of ‘The Road to the East’, which was part of the 1993 Venice Biennale, the two currents accurately reflected the social reality of China in the nineties. Just like Political Pop, Cynical Realism represented a more liberating artistic language with a social impact. Political Pop was also a judgment on the political level, expressed as a sarcastic critique of the system. Li, who had been an active curator with close connections to artists since the eighties, called the third-generation artists who emerged in the 1990’s as “rascals”, “The ‘rascals’ are fundamentally different from the two preceding generations of artists. They believe neither in the governing system of meanings nor in any effort to construct new meanings through resistance. Instead they pragmatically and realistically confront their own helplessness. If they can rescue anyone, it is themselves. And a sense of boredom is the rascals’ most effective means to undo all shackles of meanings.”² The nonchalance of the figures in Liu Wei’s early Revolutionary Family series is precisely a manifestation of this boredom.

Liu Wei graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989 and is a representative artist of the post-’89 period. Along with Fang Lijun, another representative painter of Cynical Realism, they have fully captured the ethos of the 1990’s. The two debuted together in an eponymous exhibition in 1992, earning the attention of critics within and beyond China, including the Hong Kong gallery-owner Johnson Chang. Chang invited Liu Wei to participate in the exhibition “China’s New Art Post-89,” which toured internationally in 1993. Afterwards, Liu Wei was invited to other major international events, such as the 1993 and 1995 Venice Biennales and the 1994 São Paulo Biennial. By representing Chinese art of the 1990’s, Liu Wei has made a profound impression on the Western art world.

Liu Wei began the Revolutionary Family series immediately after graduating. Although the series was exhibited internationally many times, it lasted only three years--from 1990 until 1992--and is thus very rare on the market. The series is strongly autobiographical, mostly featuring people from the painter’s life. Liu’s own father, depicted in PLA uniform, is naturally the soul of the series. In technique, Liu Wei boldly departed from the official aesthetics of the time, abandoning socialist realism for an insouciant figurative style that renders his subjects bizarre or even ugly. When comparing Liu Wei’s early and later works, we find that his style, beginning with an almost complete adherence to realism, gradually became loose and free, indicative of sensibilities unusual among his contemporaries. In contrast to most contemporary Chinese art of the 1980’s, Liu Wei’s works are free of ideological baggage or an artist’s responsibilities; irreverent mischief is his attitude in life and art alike. Thus his paintings have a clear intellectual tendency towards the nonchalance of “Cynical Realism” identified by Li Xianting.

Dad in Front of TV Set is precisely the exemplar to the mischievous spirit of “Cynical Realism”. Using the composition of his father watching the television as the main motif, the artist successfully propelled the solemn image of his father to a new level. The profile view of his father as seen in this work is further regarded to be the soul of the series, appearing throughout many of the works such as Sister’s

Wedding, In front of the Screen, and the two Dad with Mum from 1991. Considering the aesthetics lineage of the Revolutionary Family series, Dad in Front of TV Set represents the ultimate milestone; compositions of the figures in previous paintings were comparably more refined and conservative, however, in the works after, one can certainly feel a more relaxed and carefree approach to the rendering of paint and styling of the figures. In reality, Dad in Front of TV Set is also the paragon of the early works from the Revolutionary Family series, fully demonstrating not only a clearly defined modeling of the characters but also a balance in the compositional framework. The most fascinating aspect lies in the use of the tantalising red, as seen on the costume of the opera figures, which is rarely found in the series. The colour red not only signifies the spirit of the Chinese tradition, but more importantly foreshadows a gradual transition towards the obscene and provocative in the artist’s later artistic development.

Liu Wei is unwilling to comply with the golden rule of realism, using instead slightly exaggerated and expressive brushwork to ignore any notions of traditional body proportions, the technicalities of facial muscles and skeletal composition. Liu is able to presents the details of which traditional realism is incapable of presenting, displaying instead extremely personalised brushstrokes that contribute to the ever-changing fluidity in his paintings. Dad in Front of TV Set presents the importance of the artist’s personal style, and this series simultaneously solidifies the unrestrained quality to his later works marked by carefree brushwork and free-flowing paint that illustrate the beauty of decay.

The 1990’s was an era oversaturated with symbols, and it was not easy at all for Liu Wei to persevere in perfecting his painting technique. He later said, “The time before 1993 was very trying, to a large extent psychologically. I was troubled not only by worries about the future, but also by solitude in artistic creation. I have always been lonely. I am not someone who follows trends. Someone who does is not lonely.”³ Liu Wei’s insistence on the painterly aspect has turned him away from the mainstream of symbols laden painting in the mid-1990’s, and his later works have also strayed away from Cynical

Realism. Under this light, Dad in Front of TV Set is very precious because it not only represents Liu’s early painting style, but also the pinnacle of Cynical Realism. As he once said, “A true artist should find beauty in the familiar things of his everyday life. Only this is lasting beauty.”⁴ Looking back towards Dad in Front of TV Set , we can certainly sense the atmosphere of the Chinese society during the 1990s, which precisely showcases the beauty of Liu Wei’s artistic oeuvre.

1 Hu Yongfen, “Liu Wei’s”, (Liu Wei- A Solo Painter), 2012
2 Li Xianting, “’Post 89’’Art’s Meaning: ‘Cynical Realism’ and ‘Political Pop’ Analysis”, Open View: Coming Out of a National Consciousness, 2010
3 Liu Wei, Red Bridge Gallery, page 40
4 Liu Wei, Red Bridge Gallery, page 7