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Chinese Painter Depicts Country in Transition

   Stephanie Ho | Beijing  February 01, 2011
   Painting by Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong

   Painting by Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong

   Chinaās  rapid economic development has transformed the entire nation.
   Big  cities  like  Beijing or Shanghai are well-known success stories,
   but  the  progress  also  has  left  its mark on smaller towns. One of
   China's most accomplished and successful artists uncovered the joy and
   sadness that have come with changes at every level of Chinese society,
   when he returned to his small hometown in the northeastern part of the
   country.

   IFRAME: [1]http://www.youtube.com/embed/aZw1H6mlk4A

   In   2008,   ArtPrice.com,   a  French  web  site  that  monitors  the
   international art market, listed Chinaās Liu Xiaodong as the 10th best
   selling contemporary artist in the world.
   Liuās  oil  paintings are distinctive in that they depict the everyday
   life of Chinaās laobaixing, or ordinary people.
   A  new  exhibit  at  the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing
   focuses  on  Liuās  return  to  his  hometown,  Jincheng,  in Liaoning
   province. He left 30 years ago, when he was 17. He went back last year
   to  paint  familiar places and people he had grown up with. The result
   is  an unflinching look at the enormous changes wrought on a mid-sized
   Chinese town.Ā  Ā
   After  the  Communist  Party  took  power in 1949, towns like Jincheng
   experienced  an  industrialization  boom. Then, as wealth moved to the
   big  cities,  Jincheng's factories closed and people had to find other
   ways to make a living.
   "Right  now,  all  of the factory workers have had to find other jobs.
   Before,  they  were  all farmers who came to the factories to look for
   opportunities,  or to provide good fortunes for their sons. Now, their
   sons  have to find ways again to change themselves, so they go back to
   the countryside," Liu said.
   Jerome Sans, curator of the exhibit, says Liu's work shows one reality
   of a modernizing China - the people who are left.
   "He  is  depicting  social  realities,  social catastrophes, realities
   which  have  no  value,  but  who  have  serious  human value, showing
   problems mostly," Sans said.
   Sans compares Liu to a filmmaker. The artist used old photos and notes
   to  first  map  out  the  ideas  for  his  paintings. A film by Taiwan
   director  Hou  Hsiao-Hsien  delves  into  the  artistās thinking as he
   worked.
   In  Jingcheng,  Liu  paints  the room in the little house where he was
   born.  He  paints  Xuzi,  a  friend who has been laid off by the paper
   mill. Liu also paints other old friends in their jobs - a policeman, a
   karaoke club manager, an ex-convict turned restaurant owner.
   "As  society  changes,  every  sector is moving and the changes affect
   each  other.  All  this  made  me  very surprised. I discovered that a
   personās  ability  to  adapt  is like grass in the natural world. When
   winter  comes,  it  is  dormant, but it comes back to life when spring
   returns." said Liu.
   Liu's  world  is filled with ordinary people, most of whom struggle to
   keep up with and survive in todayās China.

References

   1. http://www.youtube.com/embed/aZw1H6mlk4A

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