Oil on canvas

33 × 38 cm 13 × 15 in.

Titled and signed in Chinese，dated on reverse

LITERATURE:
1997, 8+8-1: Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, p.112
2009, Case Study of China Contemporary Oil Masters, Hubei Arts Publishing HoUSe, Wuhan, p.96
EXHIBITED：
20 Jun – 12 Jul 1997，8+8-1：Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists，Schoeni Art Gallery，Hong Kong
1998，8+8-1：Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists，Connaught Brown Gallery，London

This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Schoeni Art Gallery，Hong KongUncious Analysis of Reality from Liu Xiaodong
As the pioneer and representative of the painters of new generation，Liu Xiaodong has attracted wide attention from the art circle through his realistic art style with new academic features since the beginning of his career.The objective depictions of the living status of people today give his works unique strengths that could play the strings of heart.Among major art institutions，his works have once been collected by various art institutions such as Singapore Art Museum，Queensland Art Gallery in Australia，National Art Museum of China，San Francisco Modern Art Museum，Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan.The development of his creativity has become an important microcosm of modern realistic art.
In Liu Xiaodong’s paintings，his expressionism techniques carry the wildness and precision as Lucian Freud.He portrays authentic scenarios with realistic techniques from an observer’s psychological perspective，and developed a realistic style with new academicism features by the images he focuses on.
These two art works on auction，selected from“Sleeping & Insomnia Series”，were both created in the 1990s.Both works used to be exhibited in 1997 on “8+8-1：Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists”at Schoeni Art Gallery Hong Kong.Unique compositions and deep meanings were major considerations in Liu Xiaodong’s creation during that period.Each work in Sleeping & Insomnia Series paints a huge headshot of a sleeping person as the visual centre，which occupies the whole picture.The paintings seem to be unfished，but express the real and unmodified states of sleeping people.Unlike in the ordinary portraits where facial expressions of characters are painted in conscious states，Liu Xiaodong creates unconscious sleeping states.Sigmund Freud once explained in “The Interpretation of Dreams” that dream is the access to the darkside of human nature and the restoration of a person’s primary state when the unconsciousness dominates the consciousness.In the two works，Liu Xiaodong pictures two sleeping male characters using representative techniques of combining the movements and directions of the brush with the choice of paints in a meaningful way.He has created extremely expressive unmodified textures that could reflect the true psychological state of urban citizens.
In the limited space of the two paintings，artistic expressions are carefully distinguished as regard to the detailed features of the characters’background，for example，the physical male，the focused light in a closed space and the scattering of light in a spacious place.All demonstrates the artistic sensitivity of the painter.What he saw naturally becomes the unique world in the painting.He spares all his efforts to apply colors with great precision.As a result，his works are not only highly qualified as oil paintings，but also narrate the stories of life in a free and straightforward skilful manner，which is barely seen elsewhere.

Price estimate:
HKD: 200,000 – 400,000
USD: 25,600 – 51,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 259,600