Liu Wei

signed LIU WEI and dated 2006

Red Gate Gallery, Beijing

United Kingdom, London, Saatchi Gallery, Ink: The Art of China, 19 June - 5 July, 2012, p. 69

Kuo, Jason C., Chinese Ink Painting Now, Distributed Art Publishers, New York, USA; Timezone 8, Hong Kong, China, 2010, p. 187

Overall in very good condition. This work was created on a hanging scroll and features various acrylic paint fragments extending onto the silk scroll mounting.
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Liu Wei graduated from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989 with a degree in printmaking, but following graduation immediately began to focus on oil painting. Liu is widely recognized as one of the two forerunners—along with Fang Lijun—of China's Cynical Realism movement, which gained notoriety for its satirical depictions of social realism in response to the rapid industrialization and modernization in China during the 1990s. Liu is the first Chinese artist to have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale in two consecutive exhibitions and his works have been extensively exhibited and collected by major museums and collections including the M+ Sigg Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

In the early 2000s, Liu transitioned away from his strident commentaries on modern Chinese society's race towards capitalism to a more introspective form of expression. His subject matter moved away from portraiture, towards landscapes and still lives—a noticeable trend shared among his contemporaries, including Zeng Hao and Zhou Chunya. Compared with his earlier works—which featured thick, textured paint with overlapping colour and aggressive brush strokes—Liu's latter paintings demonstrate a more refined painting style, with a thinner painting surface, muted colours and lines of heavily thinned paint dripping down the canvas. These later works are reminiscent of a water based painting medium such as Chinese ink. However, unlike traditional literati ink painters, who philosophically seek to engender a sense of 'eternity' in their works, Liu Wei's compositions focus on images of the here and now, daily life. In the present lot, Liu Wei illustrates a series of flowers wholly distinct from the style and composition of a traditional painter. Indeed, through the conspicuously gestural brushstrokes and unfinished edges of the composition, Liu personalizes his work and creates a sense of accessibility through imperfection.