Liu Ye

signed in Pinyin and Chinese and dated 98-09

There are a few scratches to the lower right corner of the work, marks of abrasion that are rather faint. Otherwise, the work is in good condition overall.
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While Chinese artists of Political Pop, Cynical Realism and conceptual installations are recognized and acclaimed by the West, Liu Ye safeguards the canvas. Armed with superb painterly skills, shrewdness and a bit of satirical humour, the artist has established his own unique style that has earned him enormous popularity. As t.mes goes by, he has created an uncommon scene in the landscape of Chinese contemporary art. The composition of his oeuvre is always a reference to art history and pop culture– children, watery eyes, Mondrian geometries and Dick Bruna's Miffy are Liu Ye's most frequently used motifs and also his most well-known trademarks.  

Liu Ye once said: "I am equally passionate about fairytales and philosophy." This is perhaps because of his art education in Germany, a country known for contribution to both.  In 1994, he returned from Germany's Berlin University of the Arts (Hochschule der Kunste Berlin) to China where movements such as Political Pop and Cynical Realism had become the forefront of Chinese contemporary art. Amid the booming economy, Liu Ye deposited his soul in his childhood memories and the realm of fairytales. He paints a unique and diaMetricas lly different impression of China with cartoon-like figures, vivid colours in an approachable style. In this way, Liu Ye has remained an artistic pioneer. 

In the early nineties, elements of the Cultural Revolution were widely applied to artistic creation; Political Pop arose to become the major trend in Chinese contemporary art. Some Chinese artists ridicule and criticize through their artistic creation, and view the world through an imbedded socio-political lens. At this t.mes , Liu was advancing himself at Germany's Berlin University of the Arts during the upheaval of the Chinese political past by young artists. Liu, on the other hand, intentionally leaves a distance between his work and society: "The way we were trained has always been 'art is to reflect society's critical incidents, render crucial historical themes'...this ideology neglects the individual experience and feelings. It becomes depleted and over-conceptual." He has also asserted that political influence on art is fundamental and ubiquitous; but avoiding it is also a possible attitude. For Liu Ye, beauty and grotesqueness, good and evil, sadness and happiness are perpetual themes that are of much greater importance than political notions. In the words of art critic Leng Lin: Liu Ye and his generation "washed away the historical burden and international geo-political ideology."

Childhood fantasy and philosophical setting are the essential qualities that constitute Liu Ye's work. His affection for fairytales may be attributed to his father, a writer of children's' literature. Liu grew up with discovering beneath his bed a large pile of fairy tales, such as Andersen's Fairy Tales and The Magic Gourd, which eventually would influence the Liu's choice of media and style. He once said: "The gorgeous illustrations brought to me a refreshing and vibrant universe, which instantly had me enchanted." As he grew up, he even fell in love with Dick Bruna's Miffy character and the movies of the Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, saying that he felt "that they are just as great as Leonardo Da Vinci."

Apart from influences from his father, Liu Ye is also inspired by young peoples' graffiti and art, another primary source for his paintings: "I was born as the generation of the Cultural Revolution, when I was young all I painted was jetfighters, canons, warships and somet.mes s the sun and sunflowers."

The stunning precision of Liu Ye's paintings reveals the positive affect of institutional training in drawing he had received as a student, empowering the artist with patience and absolute control on his brush. When his artistic and creative mind is allowed to colour the canvas, a calm mood and serene manner emerge. It is exactly this soothing and peaceful style that contrasts with the intense and dramatic use of colour and shading. Such juxtaposition creates a playful taste of tension and interaction. These qualities are all evident in Portrait of the Battleship (Lot 684). On a canvas that stretches over three meters, Liu Ye painstakingly portrays a warship. Bright fiery hues that comprise the smoky explosion occupy the center of a composition drenched in a sobering blue; reds and yellows contrast against the still, unfazed sailors onboard the deck.  Liu's restrained style 'cools' down the devastating theme of the painting, imbuing the work with an irreverent and detached air.

This masterpiece's creation spanned over eleven years—initiated in 1998, Liu Ye finally added three sailors in 2009. There have only been two large works of this scale through the artist's entire oeuvre. Replica Shoes 's is very pleased to be offering such a rare work from such a prolific and unique artist in our sale this autumn.