Liu Xiaodong, born in 1963 in Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and is a representative figure of China’s “New Generation Art.” He currently teaches in the Oil Painting Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Liu shifted the artistic trend, which since the 1980s had focused on ideological expression and the imitation of Western modernist painting, back to the realities of Chinese society and culture. He enjoys painting the things around him—natural, simple, unadorned, and relatable figures serve as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him. With his keen observational skills and exceptional expressive ability in painting, he has become one of the most outstanding artists of his generation.

Liu Xiaodong draws inspiration from everyday life, creating this work on the theme of “Love” with friends as models. In the painting, the characters’ clothing, hairstyles, and even the style of the oil paint accurately evoke the 1980s and 1990s. The composition centers on two individuals in a marriage proposal, emphasizing not the completeness of their forms but rather capturing a momentary sensation akin to a freeze-frame from a film. The young man’s slightly nervous expression and the young woman’s pensive, almost anticipatory face become the most striking elements of the work. Additionally, the painting features a beam of light that distinctly transcends realism—symbolic and expressionistic—illuminating the young woman’s face, as if foreshadowing a moment in the future.