Awkward, 2023

Xiaodong Liu  

Liu Xiaodong is a Chinese male artist born in Inner Mongolia in 1968 who lives and works in Beijing, China. He graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Inner Mongolia University of the Arts. In the early years, the artist devoted much time to copying and surrealism. After decades of basic skills, he naturally gained a control over the picture that was difficult to replicate. After many years of silence, Liu Xiaodong finally entered the field of contemporary art with his unique breaking through the constraints of the era of painting grammar and keen observation of modernity. Liu Xiaodong's recent paintings take the changes in modern viewing angles as the fulcrum to capture the entertainment characteristics of contemporary scenes in different dimensions. The artist works in an accidental manner, randomly depicting images and dynamic fragments that appear in the moment. The object of painting is copied and stylized without presupposition as a heterogeneous symbol and is eventually juxtaposed by the artist to form a collection of fragments of consciousness. Grand narratives were never the matrix he wished to inhabit. Instead, each fragment of the artist's micronarrative seems more zeitgeist. Art expresses true emotions, the driving force is our own inner masonry to build a strong and sensitive space. It must not be like naturalism's simple description of external things or wantonly vent, it is like a solid wall, supporting you behind, very reliable, but also contains a certain style and character, because it is a powerful transmission of internal power.