"Forget it New York lad, as long as you are happy. These days the image of Chinese people is questioned anyway (called in question? challenged?). But then again don’t Beijingers look down on out-of-towners? (strangers?) It’s the same everywhere."

 ——Cited from Liu Xiaodong: Spring in New York

Children's Park, 26x36cm, Watercolor on Paper, 2020

At my Doorstep, 36x26cm, Watercolor on Paper, 2020

NYU, 36x26cm, Acrylic on Photograph, 2020

Twins, 36x26cm, Watercolor on Paper, 2020

Untitled, 36x26cm, Watercolor on Paper, 2020

Liu Xiaodong was born in Jincheng, an industrial town in the north of the country, in 1963. Considering art as a possible way to a better future, his parents sent him to live with his uncle, who had previously trained as a painter, where Liu Xiaodong learned to use watercolors to copy the British masters and also the Russian school of painting. 

In 1980 Liu Xiaodong was admitted to the High School affiliated with the Central Institute and he later went on to attend the Central Academy of fine Arts, where he eventually graduated in 1988, and then started his career as professional painter by focusing on the everyday life of his peers.  

Through figurative painting techniques, he has depicted the living conditions of ordinary people in the age of historical transformations and thereby has become one of the leading figures among the “new generation” artists, participating in several exhibitions in China and abroad.

In recent years, he has turned his eyes to the world, zooming in on people from various cultures and countries against the backdrop of globalization today. Aside from China, Liu has painted from life in Italy, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Britain, and Greenland, etc.

Image and Text Courtesy of the Artist.

Edited by Sue and Emily/CAFA ART INFO