Liu Wei

signed in Chinese and dated 1994.7 on the reverse, framed

Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Private Collection
Christie's, Hong Kong, 24 May 2014, lot 47
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

Brazil, São Paulo, 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo: Chinese Exhibitions II - Wakefulness and the Weightless Present, 12 October - 11 December, 1994

Chinese Contemporary Art at São Paulo, Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong, China, 1994, p. 64

This work is generally in good condition. There is minor accretion on the lower right bottom, and wear in handling marks around the edges. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
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Projection of Desire in China of the Nineties
Liu Wei

Swimming (Lot 1077) comes from a special series of monumental paintings created by Liu Wei in 1994 for the São Paulo Biennial, featuring naked women swimming in the sea while boldly illustrating their bodies and privates in details. One can still imagine the impact that they had on São Paulo in those days. A clear departure from the works with obvious political and social undertones by Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi, Yu Youhan and Li Shan that were also on view, Liu Wei’s ruffian style and talent stood alone and shone brighter. Although it’s already over 20 years since the Biennial, we are still amazed just by standing in front of Swimming and marveling at its meticulous strokes and bold subject, which magnifies Chinese people’s desire during the Reforming and Opening period. As a by-product of rapid urbanisation, this shows typical contemporaneity. Therefore Swimming plays an indelible role in Chinese contemporary art history.

Surveying Liu Wei’s oeuvre, one would agree that it is difficult to categorise the artist’s works into one single artistic style. From the immensely iconic Revolutionary Family series in the early 1990s that gave rise to the Cynical Realism movement, to his increasingly abstract landscape paintings in the millennium period, the artist is well known for his relentless pursuits on breaking away from the limitations of painting. On one occasion, the artist has stated, “Once a group of works is finished, I will never do the same again.”¹ Thus, the extreme details and peculiar compositions created for each series are essentially aesthetical crystallisation of the artist’s particular state of mind, making his works few in numbers and heavily sought after even today. Among them, Swimming from 1994 certainly epitomises the height of Liu’s early career, representing one of his initial forays onto the international stage with its first appearance at the special Chinese contemporary art section, “Wakefulness and the Weightless Present”, curated by Chang Tsong-zung (Johnson) at the 22^nd São Paulo Biennial in 1994. The Swimmers series contain in total 8 works, each 1.5 by 2 metres, featuring semi-nude or nude Chinese women and their privates rendered with absolute frankness, making it one of the very few earliest works that brilliantly testified Liu’s genuine artistic genius to the international audience. For many, the themes of the seductive woman and water have also been recognised as a bold move away from the previous Revolutionary Family series. Indeed, it was with the gradual abandonment of the politically implicated motifs in this series that truly allowed the artist to freely explore the conditions of the inner self, and the essence of the painterly surface that ultimately formed the crucial framework of his renowned artistic practice.

While many scholars have emphasised the importance of the 1993 Venice Biennale in opening the doorway for contemporary Chinese artists into the Western sphere, it was the São Paulo Biennial in 1994 that had truly established a direct cultural exchange between the participating artists including Liu Wei, and distinguished curators from abroad. For them, in comparison with the Venice Biennale, the setting of the exhibition was not only larger, but a greater focus was placed on each of the individual artist. Without a doubt, the showcase of the Swimmers series by Liu proved to be a sensational break for many scholars and curators, including Achille Bonito Oliva, organiser of the previous Venice Biennale. During a round table discussion with notable art critic Li Xianting, who was not able to visit the Biennial, Liu specifically mentioned, “There were many people whom I didn’t know. [Achille Bonito] Oliva was especially ecstatic and actively proposed future exhibition plans with us.”²

In many ways, the Swimmers series is seen as a crucial bridge between the Revolutionary Family series and his later abstract series. While the aesthetics of this work still retain the delicacy from the Revolutionary Family series as seen in the brushwork of the hair, the main protagonist in the composition has switched from the solemn father figure or intimate family members to an anonymous woman. The explicitness illustrated is also similar to the later series of You Like Pork? As can be seen in Swimmers, an ordinary Chinese woman in nothing but a black silky pantyhose is seen enjoying her swim, with no intention to cover her private parts in front of the audience. Fully bloomed flowers are placed in the water, and one man is staring at the woman from the top right corner of the canvas, with his tongue stuck out. The lust is abundantly clear. The ruffian style remains as some of the last lingering traces from his early Cynical Realism period, the flower image would continue into his later increasingly pictorial You Like Me? series, signalling the beginning of a new path for the artist. Unlike artists who were painting one similar painting after another for mass appeal, Liu Wei retained his focus for the exploration with his work, ultimately contributing to the candidly natural and humanistic motif of beauty, lust, and desire in Swimming.  

It is important to note that the seemingly enticing composition of the work does not portray a mere personal fantasy, but rather also delves into the consciousness of oneself within a national collective. In the exhibition booklet, curator Chang has commented, “even the voyeuristic lust which seizes Liu’s bathing beauties results merely in masturbation, wide-eyed and un-dreaming,”³ connoting a sense of disconnection between the viewer and the characters in the work. Indeed, various paradoxical visual elements in the work have strengthened the notion of “wakefulness” that had come to characterise the mentality of the Chinese art world after the flourishing year of 1993. While the hovering of the woman’s body and silky pantyhose attempt to seduce the viewer for a closer view, the rough and almost improvised brushwork on the face and dripping of the paint on the body once again remind one of the painterly attributes in the oil painting.

Liu Wei has constantly commented on the importance of the artist’s spiritual state in creating an artwork. “You must have feeling in order to paint. You need to be truly alive in your heart and soul to keep your creativity and passion afresh, and ultimately make your painting eternally living.”⁴ This certainly holds true for Swimming, where the artist, instead of looking outward towards the material world, searches deep within himself on the utmost bare conditions of life. It is with the creation of Swimming where the artist continued on with his spiritual and artistic journey, producing some of the most important works within the world of contemporary Chinese art. Considering the title of the lot on offer, Liu Wei has described a parallel in his artistic practice, “A true artist should find beauty in the familiar things of his everyday life. Only this is lasting beauty.”⁵

 

1 “Liu Wei: Talented Painter”, Nan Fang Media, 2007

2 Fang Lijun, Culture And Art Publishing House, Beijing, China, 2010, p. 45

3 Chang Tsong-zung, “Wakefulness and the Weightless Present”, Chinese Contemporary Art at São Paulo, Hanart TZ Gallery, p. 40

4 Liu Wei, Red Bridge Gallery, p.7

5 Refer to 4