LIU YE

1964 geboren in Beijing

1980-1984 Studium an der „School of Arts and Crafts, Industrial Design Dept.“, Beijing

1986-1989 Studium an der „Central Academy of Fine Arts, Mural Painting Dept.“, Beijing

1990-1994 Studium an der HdK, Berlin

im Kino Delphi entsteht ein Wandgemälde

lebt und arbeitet in Beijing

Liu Ye (b. 1964)

Liu Ye and all the artists of his generation were schoolchildren during the Cultural Revolution. They are now the first free generation of artists since the Communist Liberation in 1949.

A major part of this generation's childhood memories stem from experiences, both horrific and enjoyable, of those fanatical ten years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Luckily for Liu Ye the memories are happy. He excelled at the revolutionary dancing and singing he was taught as a youngster and dreamed of being a soldier or sailor and even a ballet dancer. It is these experiences which form the basis of his early paintings. As with other avant garde Chinese artists, Liu Ye is also reexamining himself and his position in the chimeric present day Chinese society. It is the search for the understanding of the individual which prevails in his works rather than of the collective, a concept which dominated Chinese thinking throughout the Maoist years and continues to do so even though somewhat diminished. His early works are imbued with a sense of the bizarre which is juxtaposed with innocence. There is a dark side among the gaiety and apparent simplicity.

In his recent works, those of 2000 and 2001, Liu Ye pushes further with his examination of the dual face of Chinese society. His paintings of famous personalities from the world of the arts is driven by the idea that these figures have a public face which hides a very different private face. What the public sees is not the complete reality. The artist finds the similarity with his art, his own situation and that of his country overpowering. Most of his new works are painted with the characteristic humour of Liu Ye yet this is but the public face.

Liu Ye was fascinated by Mondriaan’s abstract work from the very first time he was introduced to it. Liu, who was a student of industrial design at the time, initially considered Mondriaan a designer rather than a painter. It is therefore no surprise that Liu’s work enters into a dialogue with Mondriaan’s visual language rather than his theories. Liu’s work is realistic, but plays with his admiration of Mondriaan’s abstraction in a variety of ways.

In 1992 Liu made his first work that referred to Mondriaan. In the paintings,etchings and lithographs from that period Mondriaan’s works were literally part of his compositions. In later work Liu expressed his fascination with Mondriaan in a different way, but the influence of his world-famous predecessor always remained visible.

Einzelausstellungen

2016 Mondriaanhuis Amersfoort

2001 Chinese Contemporary; London

2000 Lococo Mulder Fine Art, Berlin

1997 Ming Jing Di Gallery, Beijing

1995 Galerie Taube, Berlin

1993 Galerie Taube, Berlin

Gruppenausstellungen (Auswahl)

2013 Das ultimative Bild, Raab Galerie Berlin

2012 Traum vom Fliegen, Raab Galerie Berlin

2006 Tischgesellschaften, Raab Galerie Berlin

2005 Berlin, Galerie Taube Berlin

2001 Transparence, opacite? De Markten, Brüssel

2000 Graphic & Comic in China, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam

1999 Liberation, Chinese Contemporary Ltd, London

1998 It's Me – A Profile of Chinese Contemporary Art in the 90s,

Forbidden City Tai Miao, Beijing

Mondrian in China – Shanghai Library

1997 Made in China, Gallery Zaken, Amsterdam

1991 Freie Berliner Kunstausstellung