A spectacular exemplar from Liu Wei’s iconic Cityscape series, Untitled regenerates a cross-section of the Beijing cityscape into a stunning celebration of geometry and verticality. Hypnotically disorienting in its optical illusions, the work presents a myriad of densely packed super-imposed vertical and horizontal lines, manifesting the sublime subjectivity of the modern Chinese city packed with high-rise buildings and ruled by the digitalised data and pixels of the virtual world. Bearing traces of Western Minimalism and Deconstructionism, whilst espousing a jolting juxtaposition between the Zen ideal and the chaotic tumultuous cityscape of Beijing, Untitled throbs and pulsates with a singular aesthetic that is wholly unique, global and contemporary.

Born in 1972, Liu Wei graduated in 1996 from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou (formerly the Zhejiang Academy of Art). In 1999, Liu Wei was one of a group of young artists alongside Qiu Zhijie, Yang Fudong and others who organized “Post-Sense Sensibility: Alien Bodies and Delusion”, a radical exhibition that positioned itself in response to the excessive idealism and “tone-deaf conceptualism” of art that pervaded the scene at the t.mes . Although the exhibition remained open for only a few short hours before being shut down, its spirit lived on in the form of a subversive quasi-movement through a series of subsequent exhibitions and affiliated projects and collaborations in the ensuing years. Pauline J. Yao reflects: “The Post-Sense Sensibility artists embraced irrationality, improvisation, and intuition and strove to create extreme experiences. Though frequently likened to the Viennese Actionists or the YBAs, the group is most indebted to the anti-art and anti-ideology stances of Fluxus” (Pauline J. Yao, “Dark Matter”, Art Forum, January 2012, n.p.).

Liu Wei’s contribution to the 1999 show was a multi-channel video Hard to Restrain; the first important work of a sophisticated and multi-faceted oeuvre that spanned installation, sculpture, video and painting. Albeit ranging widely in medium and creative strategy, a common theme pervades Liu Wei’s multidimensional works – a shrewd and cutting observation of society, urbanization, and China. The artist has said: “The city is reality. All of China exists in a city under construction, which in the end has an impact on you. You cannot avoid paying attention to it. You wonder: why should one do this? It’s all related to the system” (interview with Liu Wei, “I always keep myself in a state of instability”, Hans Ulrich Obrist interview with Liu Wei, Liu Wei, Trilogy, 2011). Whether subtly or explicitly, Liu Wei’s works allude to the social system with underlying strains of witty social satire and critique.

From the late 2000s onwards, Liu Wei’s unique and acclaimed works were increasingly invited to various large-scale exhibitions abroad, including the Venice Biennale of 2005 and the Lyon Biennale of 2007, and in 2008 he won a Contemporary Chinese Art Award (CCAA). It was around this t.mes that Liu Wei’s art underwent a change in direction – one in which he abandoned his earlier, more explicit satire and critique in favour of understated meditations on society. The cityscape series emerged within this juncture of the artist’s career: replacing the painting brush with the computer mouse, Liu Wei employed graphic design to engage in an interrogation with the formal possibilities of painting. In the artist’s own words: “I use a mouse to create all my paintings as an instinct and as a continuation of painting”.

Liu Wei’s cityscapes are thus a milestone and crucial turning point in Liu Wei’s practice, both in terms of methodology and concept. From his experience as an urbanite, Liu Wei distills a unique set of visual elements; while his artistic vocabulary is close to that of Minimalism, it is infused with the special, hybrid character of Chinese cities. Art critic Gunnar B. Kvaran once commented on his works, “Liu’s entire practice can be seen as a fragmented cityscape whose social structure is reduced to an essential state for the sake of claritys of message” (Gunnar B. Kvaran, Liu Wei: The Creative Gesture, 2011). Condensing the ethos of Beijing and contemporary China, as well as that of the globally digitalized world, the current piece encapsulates the extraordinary vitality and dynamism of Liu Wei’s multi-dimensional oeuvre that espouses the intricate relationships between art and society.

本作《無題》將北京城市景觀剖析並重塑成為一道道矚目震撼的幾何和垂直形態，而它所屬的城市風景系列正是劉韡的代表作之一。阡陌縱橫的直線是對城市訊息化及建築最高化的提煉，既隱喻中國城市景觀中的高樓大廈，亦是虛擬世界中數據及像數的具體呈現。《無題》隱約可見西方極簡主義和解構主義的影響；禪學思想和北京市喧囂紛雜的氣氛混雜並存，呈現一種與別不同、卻是屬於全球和當代的美學風格。

劉韡在1972年出生，1996年畢業於杭州的中國美術學院（前身為浙江美術學院）。1999年，劉韡與一眾年輕藝術家如邱志杰、楊福東等人共同籌劃「後感性︰異形與妄想」；相對八十年代的過於理想化的藝術傾向，他們希望創作擺脫社會責任等大道理，展現完全不一樣的面貌的作品。當時的展覽僅開放數小時就被關閉，卻引起不少回響；往後的展覽、相關活動和合作，以一種反叛、近似運動的形式將它的精神傳承下去。策展人姚嘉善指出：「這些後感性藝術家擁抱非理性、即興和直覺，力求創造極端的體驗。儘管他們常被人比作維也納行動派或『英國青年藝術家』，但對他們影響最深的，其實是激浪派的反藝術和反理想立場」（姚嘉善撰，<暗物質>，《Art Forum》，2012年1月，無頁數）。

劉韡以錄像裝置參與那場1999年的展覽，題為《難以抑制》，是他首件複雜多面的跨媒體作品，包括裝置、雕塑、影像和繪畫。他的多維度作品無論媒材和創作角度都非常豐富，但同一個主題始終貫徹其中——對社會、城市化和中國的深入觀察。藝術家曾說：「城市是現實，中國整個是一個在建設中的城市，畢竟是對你有影響的，你不可能對它不注意，你可以去想為什麽會這樣做﹖其實都是和制度有關係的」（引述自小漢斯與劉韡訪談，<我永遠是讓自己保持在不穩定的狀態>，《Liu Wei, Trilogy》，2011年）。劉韡的作品總是有意無意地暗示社會制度之下的束縛，並不乏諷刺和批評。

2000年代後期開始，劉韡的作品多次獲邀參與海外大型展覽，包括2005年威尼斯雙年展、2007年里昂雙年展等，並獲頒2008年中國當代藝術獎（CCAA）。同一時間，他的作品出現了轉向，當中關於社會的思考日益含蓄，他放棄原先作品明顯的諷刺及批判性，反而從作品的形式著手，嘗試開拓一條新的創作路線，例如借城市風景系列來探討繪畫形式的可能性。他以電腦鼠標代替畫筆，以畫面設計代替繪畫過程。一如藝術家自言：「我以鼠標創作我所有的繪畫，這是一種本能，是繪畫的延續」。

從創作方式和概念看來，城市風景畫是劉韡藝術事業的里程碑和轉折點。劉韡從城市的經驗提煉出獨特的視覺元素，其藝術語匯接近西方的極簡主義，卻有著中國城市獨特的混雜氣質。藝評家Gunnar B. Kvaran如此概括他的創作：「劉韡的整個創作手法可以說是把碎片化的城市景觀壓縮至最基本的狀態，以達到訊息的清晰」（Gunnar B. Kvaran撰，，2011年）。本作將北京和當代中國的精神氣質、以至全球的數字化世界加以濃縮提煉，展現劉韡多維度創作的奔放活力，亦可見藝術與社會千絲萬縷的關係。