Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Liu Wei

Born 1965 in Beijing. Lives and works in Beijing. Liu Wei studied printmaking at Central Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1989.

Born 1989 in Beijing (250%), 1995–96 by Liu Wei

“Since the early 1990s Liu has worked in oil. His satirical paintings of the revolutionary family, members of his own family depicted with images of Mao Zedong, gave rise to the term ‘Cynical Realism.”
(Roberts C. , Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture, 2012)

Context and comment

“In the absence of a full official acknowledgement of what occurred in Tiananmen Square on June 4 1989, artists have reflected privately on the trauma and responded in a variety of indirect ways. The art critic and curator Huang Zhuan refers to the ‘indescribability’ of that time. It was, he said ‘a composite crisis of reality composed of China’s culture, economy, politics, society, psychology, and belief’. Like Fang Lijun, Liu Wei (b. 1965) was trained in the print-making department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and turned to painting. Born 1989 in Beijing (250%) dates from 1995/6 and displays Liu’s virtuosic painterly style. Vulnerable, flesh-pink babies with macabre growths emanating from their ears and shoulders as if they are about to explode are silhouetted against a sombre black ground, hemmed in by a wall of text. The words ‘Beijing’ and ‘1989’ are repeated in white letters across the large canvas as if to prevent forgetfulness about the significance of that watershed year.”
(Roberts C. , Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture, 2012)

“The government crackdown on student movement in Tiananmen Square crushed the political aspiration of the young generation. The twin events dealt a double blow to the artists of the 1980s, bringing their high-minded idealism to a crushing ground and deflated their illusion that their aspiration was part of a collective dream of modernization.”
(Wang, Three decades: Themes, 2012)

Further reading

Individual and context
china.arts.ubc.ca

The Liu Wei I know
www.artzinechina.com

Liu Wei in his studio
www.artlinkart.com

Heinrich, C. (2005). Mahjong; Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection. (B. F. Frehner, Ed.) Germany: Hatje Cantz .pp. 133

Andrews, J. F. (2008). Mahjong; Art Film and Change in China. (J. M. White, Ed.) Berkeley, California, USA: University of California, Berkely Art Museum and Film Archive. pp. 29 - 56

Roberts, C. (2012). Go figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture. (D. C. Roberts, Ed.) Canberra and Sydney, Australia: National Portrait Gallery and The Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation.

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency