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Liu, Xiaodong (b. 1963) was born in Jincheng, Liaoning Province, China. Liu studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in oil painting in 1988. In 1995 he received a Masters of Fine Art in oil painting at the same university. From 1998 to 1999, he continued his studies overseas at the Academy of Fine Arts at the Madrid Complutense University in Spain. Currently Liu teaches at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China.
Liu became known in the 1990s for his thorough exposure of social realities. With his friends, relatives and daily life as subjects, he reflected social problems on a wide scale. More recently, he painted magnificent subjects such as The Three Gorges series reflecting the relocation processes of the project.
Liu’s Hometown Boy series is a combination of childhood memories and his life journey. In this series of painting, Liu put his childhood friends onto his canvases which he created over the summer of 2010 in his hometown, Jincheng. Liu left Jincheng in 1980 when he was 17 to study in Beijing.
In addition to his painting, Liu Xiaodong has close ties with cinema. For the 2010 Hometown Boy series, Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien accompanied Liu Xiaodong to his hometown of Jincheng in order to document, on film, the interplay of past and present, as seen through the eyes of the artist.
Every one of Liu’s paintings is a part of the whole, a frozen moment infused with his childhood memories and current existence. He confronts the objects in his painting from an honest, independent and daring point of view. In these moments, he comes out of himself and his personality and expression penetrate the surface of the painting. He stands grounded in the honed skills of painting, but his individual character is so much a part of his work that we would like to call it penetrability.
In addition to his painting, Liu Xiaodong has close ties with cinema. For the 2010 Hometown Boy series, international well-known Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien (侯孝贤) accompanied Liu Xiaodong to his hometown of Jincheng in order to document, on film, the interplay of past and present, as seen through the eyes of the artist. The film, Hometown Boy <<金城小子>>, is the winner of Best Documentary honors at the 2011 Golden Horse Awards (i.e., Taiwan’s Oscar).
Every one of Liu’s paintings is a part of the whole, a frozen moment infused with his childhood memories and current existence. He confronts the objects in his painting from an honest, independent and daring point of view. In these moments, he comes out of himself and his personality and expression penetrate the surface of the painting. He stands grounded in the honed skills of painting, but his individual character is so much a part of his work that we would like to call it penetrability. The film Hometown Boy recorded this process from Liu Xiaodong’s perspective as well as understood his art practice from this intimate distance.
Note:
Director Hou’s films have been awarded prizes from prestigious international festivals such as the Venice Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival, and the Nantes Three Continents Festival. His work also got nominated at the Cannes Film Festival.
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iCulture
One Sansome Street
Suite 3500
San Francisco, CA 94104
United States
ph: 415.200.8593
alt: 415.509.7558
info