The main subjects portrayed in Liu Xiaodong’s early work were his close friends and family, as he sought to capture moments from everyday life. The artist uses the everyday as a means to invoke a type of charm that invites the viewer to stop and look closer. Through his depiction of the mental state of a young generation returning to their living space, we can also gain an insight into the inner workings of the artist’s own mind.

Liu Xiaodong was invited to lecture in Taiwan in 2002, and during an instructional seminar with a group of students on the principles of life drawing, he found himself inspired by the intensity and performativity of the experience. This event marked the beginning of a new stylistic phase in his sketch work, encouraging him to take a new direction in his life drawing. Xiao Hao, Pei Yi, Xiao Yao has inherited Liu Xiaodong’s usual painting style, with the figures of three youths portrayed with fluent and stylised language. The three figures gazing out of the frame lend the scene a stable composition, and with the midground and background being left white, the rest is left to the imagination of the viewer.

Liu Xiaodong once said, “I always hope that “something” will happen within the frame, but this kind of controlled propriety is no good and can lead to a certain literary tendency. I steer clear of this by using only the most fundamental elements of painting in my work, such as form, colour, volume.” The figures within the painting stand facing out towards the audience, yet their gaze lies beyond the viewer. The concrete relationship between the three is not overemphasised, thus removing the possibility to interpret the subjects of the painting in a literary fashion. This painting exemplifies the unconventional narrative style found in the works of Liu Xiaodong, expressing his creative concept of “using painting to draw attention to and embody reality and humanity” with ease and simplicity.

(Edited by Lijie Wang & Miao Zijin)