Acrylic on canvas

298 × 180 cm. 117 3/8 × 70 7/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and Pinyin, and dated on the reverse
EXHIBITED
Dec 2006, Property of Liu Wei, Beijing Commune in association with Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing Commune, Beijing

PROVENANCE
Beijing Commune, Beijing
Important Private Collection, Asia

Digital Era's Virtual and Real Splendour
Liu Wei's "Purple Air" - Idealism and Reality

"My works are the most realistic, everything is my life, it’s everything around me."
——Liu Wei

Born in Beijing in 1972, Liu Wei witnessed the impact of urbanization and globalization on China during his upbringing in the late 20th century. After graduating from the China Academy of Art with a degree in oil painting in 1996, he later became a member of the "Post-Sense Sensibility Group" and has since been dedicated to creative practice. Influenced by China’s rapidly changing urban landscapes and the Postmodernism theory of French philosopher Bruno Latour, Liu Wei spans his works in various mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography, and installations. They deeply reflect contemporary societal issues and challenges with an avant-garde style and strong critical spirit. Liu Wei is often praised for challenging audience perceptions, and becoming a prominent figure in the development of contemporary art in China. Since 2005, he has been invited to participate in major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. In 2008, he received the China Contemporary Art Award (CCAA), and his works are held in prestigious collections worldwide, such as the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and the Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul. A work from the Purple Air series was in the Sigg Collection of the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, from which Purple Air No. 3, presented in the Spring Auction, is from the same series, demonstrating its representativeness.

A Diverse Reality, Purple Air Emerges

Over the years, the rapid rise of skyscrapers and the diminishing awe for nature have deeply affected Liu Wei. In 2005, he started using a computer mouse instead of a brush, employing a digital creative process to interpret the digitized social progress. Liu Wei digitally processes city images, detaching them from realism, and then meticulously transfers them to the canvas through hand-drawn techniques. This process gave birth to his milestone Purple Air series.

Based on his memories of Beijing, Liu Wei creates a modern city with strong pixelation and futuristic elements using intersecting digital lines and geometric structures. When questioned about the extensive grayscale in his Purple Air series, he humorously responded, "Yes, it is. But I just painted randomly, without any meaning." Through intricate intersections of lines and surfaces, Liu Wei deconstructs and reconstructs the ever-changing reality, gradually revealing the traces of human life beneath the cityscape and prompting reflections on life.

A Digital Representing of Reality

Completed in 2006, Purple Air No.3 depicts the Beijing night sky bathed in moonlight. Liu Wei deliberately emphasizes order and programmability in his classic digitized city images, symbolizing anxiety amid rapid technological development. The artwork predominantly features shades of grey, intricately portraying the majestic city skyline illuminated by the moon. The undulating composition conveys the expressiveness and deliberate emptiness of traditional Chinese landscape paintings, connecting different eras. In the light grey background, tree branches, intricately patterned in the moonlight, and towering dark grey buildings compress into a flat plane, resembling radio waves or a QR code. In the foreground, vertical and horizontal stacks of columns in sky blue, light green, bright orange and grass green break the silence of the night sky. A purple neon streak, piercing through the heavens, becomes the finishing touch, revitalizing the silent city in the late night. The strong colour contrast reflects Liu Wei’s complex emotions towards his hometown Beijing, expressing both problems and vitality. The cityscape before us extends beyond Beijing and can be translated into any modern metropolis, invoking a collective resonance in the viewers. Liu Wei blends abstraction and representation, breaking traditional painting patterns to outline reality in a modern way, allowing viewers to perceive the distorted, assertive, and vibrant pulse of contemporary society through pixel rhythms, prompting deep contemplation.

Price estimate:
HKD: 600,000 – 800,000
USD: 76,600 - 102,200

Auction Result:
HKD: 630,000