Mixed media on wood

80 × 65 cm. 31 1/2 × 25 5/8 in.

Signed in Chinese, pinyin and dated on upper middle

LITERATURE
2009, A Piece of Paper A Piece of Plywood, Red Bridge Gallery, Shanghai, p. 52-53
EXHIBITED
10 Sep – 15 Oct 2009, A Piece of Paper A Piece of Plywood, Red Bridge Gallery, Shanghai

PROVENANCE
Red Bridge Gallery, Shanghai
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

Transforming Decay into Splendid Wonders
The Vivid and Playful Artistic Life under Liu Wei's Brushstrokes

“Painting must have feeling, it must resonate with one's own heart. Only with a lively inner self can creativity remain alive, and only then can the painting always remain alive.”
—— Liu Wei

After experiencing the rise of the avant-garde in the 85 New Wave and the collective contemplation of the 1989 China/Avant Garde exhibition, Chinese contemporary artists in the 1990s gradually achieved a leap towards an international perspective, undergoing a transformation of thought, change in form, and multiple influences from reality. They bid farewell to their previous explorations of history, philosophy, and value systems, realising that “only by truly facing one's own helplessness can one save oneself.” Hippie and self-mocking expressions became a new window for many artists to express themselves, reflecting on and making fun of their own realities, metaphorically embedding their thoughts on society and themselves in symbolic artistic language. Thus, two of the most important art forms of 90s Chinese contemporary art, “Political Pop” and “Cynical Realism,” were born. The Venice Biennale in 1993 and 1995, the 1993 travelling exhibition China's New Art, Post-1989, and the following year's Sao Paulo Art Biennial gradually gained them attention and recognition in the international stage, receiving much attention from the West.

Among them, Liu Wei, the pioneer and important representative of “Cynical Realism,” played a role in the above-mentioned important exhibitions and is honoured as the most talented artist in contemporary China. With his natural talent, keen insight, and playful and mischievous demeanour, he boldly challenges the boundaries of form in the field of art, portraying his most magical artistic charm using seemingly decayed expressions.

In the Smoke of Mortal World, there Lies an Alternative Realm
The No Smoking Series Opens the Scene

The presented work, No Smoking Series: I like Smoking (Lot 53), was completed in 1995, a significant year in Liu Wei's artistic career. That year, with his Do You Like Meat? series, he was exhibited in the central position of the main exhibition hall at the 46th Venice Biennale, making him an instant sensation in the international art scene. At the same time, he focused on the diverse transformation of his own artistic language. After moving to Songzhuang town in Beijing and moving away from his successful early Revolutionary Family series, he began to break the boundaries of traditional “aesthetic comfort points” with a decadent expression, depicting a blurred body associated with desire, emotion, behaviour, and personality, metaphorically representing the philosophy of the “Id.” He returns a hint of poetic beauty in absurdity, fully expressing his profound contemplation of human nature. It is during this important turning point that his iconic No Smoking series was born, and the presented No Smoking Series: I like Smoking is an important representative of this series. Different from the later stage of the series that primarily depicted figures smoking, this work creatively combines the text “Smoking” with the skull symbol, placing the flesh-coloured figure in an expressive landscape. It presents the beauty of dissolution between the flesh, dispersed in a haze of smoke and fog, a beauty that is as splendid as a peach blossom amidst rot.

The Continuous Writing of Body and Soul

On the selected gold-flecked paper, Liu Wei uses multiple mediums and dynamic brush strokes to create a misty and magical place, with gold dust swirling in the air, pulling viewers into the mysterious atmosphere. The hazy purple colours gradually blend like mist, and in the distant sky, layers of delicate ink strokes create the swaying shadows of trees. As the brushstrokes intertwine, the faint night glow from the depths of the jungle gradually spreads, illuminating the bright red flesh at the centre of the painting like a flickering flame burning in the bushes, revealing an everlasting vitality.

If you take another step into this intricate and variable painting, you will discover that the background jungle is filled with multiple writings by the artist, with arrows, numbers, Chinese and English characters, and symbols. The fragmented and flowing brushstrokes of the painting figures create a wonderful echo, as if both possess a fleeting stream of consciousness, shrouded in the variable smoke, giving birth to countless possibilities. Thus, the protagonist in the painting is situated in the centre of a vertical coordinate axis, with arrows pointing both up and down, guiding him towards the path he unfolds, as if all roads lead to Rome, embracing an open-minded attitude towards the future. Beside the protagonist, a skull symbol in the shape of smoke and clouds, reminiscent of the Baroque period “Vanitas” movement from the 17th century, metaphorically represents the coexistence of life and death. Above and below the skull, the words “I like Smoking”, “Smoking”, and “No Smoking” are written. In combination with the Beijing municipal regulations prohibiting smoking in public places enacted at the end of 1995, as an artist who has been smoking for many years, the protagonist in the painting becomes his own reflection, and these slogans reflect his reflection and questioning of the standardization of the real society.

In this landscape mixed with romance and fantasy, Liu Wei depicts his innermost reality. The dim fluorescence in the dark night is like Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes' The Devil's Lamp, under the pen of the Spanish artist, using the flicker of a lamp to determine one's own life and death. However, within Liu Wei's intense writing, seemingly casual but sincere words can be seen, each containing a confused yet soulful cry. He powerfully expresses his mockery of the noisy and flashy external world while also dissecting his own body, rethinking, starting over, and moving towards the future with a naked flesh. Life and death, body and soul, humanity and nature intertwine in the picture, with colours and ink, words and patterns, carried on the gold-flecked paper from ancient times, connecting fundamental contemplation and care for the essence of existence. The brilliance in decay, the lustre born from being pushed to the brink of death, under Liu Wei's skilful brush, forms an unforgettable artistic landscape.

To Break and Establish, the Embodiment of the Spirit
Liu Wei's Recreation of Van Gogh's Painting

Liu Wei's creative focus has been on portraiture since graduating from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989, such as the early politically speculative Revolutionary Family series. People have always been a subject that interests him. In 2009, he broke new ground by returning to woodcuts, which he excelled at since his student days, rather than working on canvas and paper, revealing another artistic inspiration.

In that year, he took Vincent van Gogh, a worshiped and highly spiritual artist, as the basis for his work Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin, using his ingenious ideas to reinterpret it and created one composite medium wood panel and four paper works, named Van Gogh's Painting. In this series, he first selected a piece of wood and meticulously carved it to capture the distinctive features of the protagonist's cheeky beard and the postman's identity with concise lines, highly reproducing Van Gogh's original work. Then, he brushed ink on the surface lines of the woodcut, presenting distinct bold lines like traditional painting techniques, deeply imprinting the character's demeanour and appearance in the work. Using this wood panel as the base, he printed four prints, each depicting the protagonist in different expressions, forming a series. Van Gogh's Painting 2, collected by Yuz Foundation, is the second paper work in the series. The Van Gogh's Painting (Lot 52) being auctioned is the only and most precious mixed media wood panel in the series, and it is the most detailed, ingeniously conceived, and distinct representation.

Form Is Emptiness, Reshaping the Portrait's Freedom of Vision

In fact, Van Gogh also created five oil paintings and two sketch manuscripts in the Postman series between 1888 and 1889. The compositions of the seven works were very similar, but the depiction of background colours and expressions were vastly different, presenting completely different aspects, in order to celebrate the warm-hearted friends in his life. The creation of this series by Liu Wei forms an interesting echo with it. After completing the paper works of the Van Gogh's Painting series, Liu Wei returned to this wooden piece and added more details with oil paint and ink. The background displays Liu Wei's signature vibrant white flowers, arranged behind the figures and expanding beyond the frame, as if the flowers illuminate and grow with vitality. As for the facial features of the figures, he surprisingly left them as “blank spaces”. Through this unique expression, Liu Wei intends to break the conventions of portrait painting and expand the imaginative space of the artwork. It allows viewers to reflect and project the emotions of the characters from the outside, and openly refers to every person who brings warmth to one's life. On the other hand, Liu Wei further pays tribute to the psychological expression implicitly conveyed by Van Gogh's Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin at the Kröller-Müller Museum, while fundamentally breaking away from this spiritual expression. In Van Gogh's works, the white floral decorations in the background and the fresh and beautiful green tones aim to enhance the radiance of the figures, thus displaying their joyful and cheerful psychological state. Liu Wei daringly uses white hues for rendering, while to some extent preserving the original wood colour and ink tones. This makes the contours of the figures stand out more in the strokes of woodcut and ink, thereby making a powerful statement of artistic creation from the artist's creative force. With the texture of the materials itself, it becomes a guide for the audience to interpret the art.

In response to the title “Van Gogh's Painting” written below, the artwork is like a “new style contemporary portrait that breaks to establishes” under Liu Wei's declaration of “I will never tolerate repetition”. It breaks Van Gogh's original narrative space and establishes a colourful and unrestricted “emptiness is also form”. The intertwined and colourless flowers and leaves await people outside the painting to add colours and unleash their creativity. The brushstrokes flow with the state of mind, just like the extending feet and branches, gracefully dancing within the frame, telling the story of “blue-sky thinking” that write about the past and recreate the universe.

Price estimate:
HKD 700,000 – 900,000
USD 89,700 – 115,400