Liu Xiaodong's personal profile

Liu Xiaodong thinks that there are many "isms" in the world, and "realism" is documentary and direct to him. "I rely on this foundation and feel real in my heart." Even when the modern art movement dominated the whole country in the late 1980s, Liu Xiaodong still insisted on his own realism and paid attention to daily life and familiar people. After more than ten years of obscurity, Liu Xiaodong still insisted on his own painting concept, focusing on the independence and alienation of ordinary people's existence, and staying away from the trend and noise. Times have changed. As a representative of the "new generation" in the art world, Liu Xiaodong has not only become a mainstream hotspot, but also his paintings are deeply loved by collectors.

People are keen to chase Liu Xiaodong, not only because his paintings set a new auction record for contemporary art in China, but also because he dared to face the reality. Ai Weiwei commented that Liu Xiaodong's works showed "the trauma of a country and the silent position of an artist" with great strength. He is so sensitive to the pains of the changes of the times, putting aside the glitz of form and grand narrative, and closely connecting personal truth with the absurdity of the times. Every ordinary character has formed a deep gaze on life in his works to varying degrees.

However, in an era of consumption madness, artists are inevitably vulgar. On the one hand, Liu Xiaodong used art to resist consumption, on the other hand, it was difficult to prevent himself from becoming a symbol of consumption. His painting "Three Gorges New Immigrants", which showed the sufferings of the bottom of the Three Gorges, was bought and put into a high-level club that marked its status. However, Liu Xiaodong's strength lies in his adaptation to a commercialized society. He knows very well that today's art dissemination and promotion must rely on business, and the art market can only be business. However, at the same time, he also maintained his own bottom line. No matter what the outside world said, his value soared, but he still took it lightly and devoted himself to painting.

Chen Danqing, a fellow painter, admired Liu Xiaodong very much. Chen Danqing thought he only ended the Cultural Revolution in painting, while Liu Xiaodong painted the present with realistic brushwork. Liu Xiaodong did what he wanted to do but failed to do. Liu Xiaodong's success lies not only in his artistic talent, but also in his persistence in art, which is a bet between art and lonely years. As he used to say, "painting is as' enduring' as the process of life.