Liu Ye

signed in Pinyin and Chinese, dated 95, framed

The Ullens Collection, Europe
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 7 April, 2007, lot 105
Private European Collection
Acquired from the above by the present owner

China, Beijing, Mingjingdi Gallery, Liu Ye, 1997, p.15
France, Paris, Espace Cardin, Paris-Pékin, 5-28 October, 2002, p.137

Liu Ye, Timezone8 Limited., Bern, Switzerland, 2006-2007, p.10

This work is generally in good condition. There is a patch of paint loss on the right edge. Minor wear and series of vertical hairline craquelures are found around the edges. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration. Please note that the artist has previously damaged the center area with a slash mark. It was subsequently repatched and signed by the artist on the reverse.
"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."

“I always feel that I live every moment in a fairy tale world”

Harmonic Chord
Liu Ye

Liu Ye has no interest in politics. When he returned from Berlin to China in 1994, Chinese artists of Political Pop and Cynical Realism were recognised and acclaimed by the West. Yet, Liu Ye remained as a safeguard to the canvas. As what he once said, “Basic human sentiments such as humanitarianism, beauty, kindness and sadness are far more touching and important to me than any political concepts.”¹ During his time in Germany, Liu already held two solo exhibitions in Berlin alone. Upon his return to China, he would continue to progress on his own terms in his first solo exhibition “Liu Ye” at the Ming Jing Di Gallery in Beijing. Works in the gallery exhibited no political symbols. Instead, what appeared was Liu Ye’s fantastical world, marked by battleships, small navy troops, and compositions of Piet Mondrian. Armed with superb painterly skills, shrewdness and a bit of satirical humour, the artist has established his own unique style that has earned him enormous popularity. As time goes by, he has created an uncommon scene in the landscape of Chinese contemporary art. The work on offer, Sinking Ship from 1995 (Lot 151) is an iconic work from the artist’s early career, and was featured in his first solo exhibition in China. It is important to note that a small part of the canvas was accidentally scratched in the painting process, which was later repaired by the artist himself. In truth, Sinking Ship highlights not only the signatory purple and blue palette, but also the motif of the battleship prevalent in his early works. In the painting, a large ship is seen tipped over in the vast ocean scape, with smoke pouring out from underneath. In front of the ship are two children with wings, quietly sitting and reading two books. The stunning precision of Liu Ye’s paintings reveals the positive effect of institutional training in drawing he had received as a student, empowering the artist with patience and absolute control on his brush. When his artistic and creative mind is allowed to colour the canvas, a calm mood and serene manner emerge. It is exactly this soothing and peaceful style that contrasts with the intense and dramatic use of colour and shading. Such juxtaposition creates a playful taste of tension and interaction within the overall compositional framework, pinpointing precisely the restlessness and anxiety in life. The undercurrents beneath the seemingly calm surface is actually in parallel with the aesthetic pursuit by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. Through rearranging and displacing the three primary colours and lines in space, Mondrian is able to fill the canvas with a sense of fullness and tension, metaphorically alluding to the unpredictability in life. At the same time, he hoped to find an equilibrium state within the action of painting, echoing the calling of peace in post-war Europe. Similarly, Sinking Ship also focuses on the tension between movement (battleship) and silence (children), each intertwining into one another, reaching a balanced state. In the words of art critic Leng Lin: Liu Ye and his generation “washed away the historical burden and international geo-political ideology.”

Above the spirit of Mondrian and surrealism, Liu Ye has created his own themes including children, battleship, navy troops, and Dick Bruna’s Miffy. These are all frequently used motifs and most well- known trademarks from the 1964 Beijing born artist.

Liu Ye once said: “I am equally passionate about fairytales and philosophy.” This is perhaps because of his art education in Germany, a country known for contribution to both. In 1994, he returned from Germany’s Berlin University of the Arts (Hochschule der Kunste Berlin) to China where movements such as Political Pop and Cynical Realism had become the forefront of Chinese contemporary art. Amid the booming economy, Liu Ye deposited his soul in his childhood memories and the realm of fairytales. He paints a unique and diametrically different impression of China with cartoon-like figures, vivid colours in an approachable style. In this way, Liu Ye has remained an artistic pioneer.

In the early nineties, elements of the Cultural Revolution were widely applied to artistic creation; Political Pop arose to become the major trend in Chinese contemporary art. Some Chinese artists ridicule and criticize through their artistic creation, and view the world through an imbedded socio-political lens. At this time, Liu was advancing himself at Germany’s Berlin University of the Arts during the upheaval of the Chinese political past by young artists. Liu, on the other hand, intentionally leaves a distance between his work and society: “The way we were trained has always been ‘art is to reflect society’s critical incidents, render crucial historical themes’…this ideology neglects the individual experience and feelings. It becomes depleted and over-conceptual.” He has also asserted that political influence on art is fundamental and ubiquitous; but avoiding it is also a possible attitude. For Liu Ye, beauty and grotesqueness, good and evil, sadness and happiness are perpetual themes that are of much greater importance than political notions. “My painting basically belongs to my individual life. Childhood for me, was a golden time, many aspects of my painting reflect my childhood imagination and fantasies.”

Childhood fantasy and philosophical setting are the essential qualities that constitute Liu Ye’s work. His affection for fairytales may be attributed to his father, a writer of children’s’ literature. Liu grew up with discovering beneath his bed a large pile of fairy tales, such as Andersen’s Fairy Tales and The Magic Gourd, which eventually would influence Liu’s choice of media and style. He once said: “The gorgeous illustrations brought to me a refreshing and vibrant universe, which instantly had me enchanted.” As he grew up, he even fell in love with Dick Bruna’s Miffy character and the movies of the Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, saying that he felt “that they are just as great as Leonardo Da Vinci.”

Apart from influences from his father, Liu Ye is also inspired by young peoples’ graffiti and art, another primary source for his paintings: “I was born as the generation of the Cultural Revolution, when I was young all I painted was jetfighters, canons, warships and sometimes the sun and sunflowers.” For the artist, the purpose of painting is to express the real self. “After all, I think being honest instead of realistic towards art is the most important of it all”.

1 Liu Ye, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, 2001