Author: LIU YE 刘野

Size: 600×900cm；200×300cm×9

Signed and dated: Painted in 2011-2012

Estimate: Estimate Upon Request

Final Price: RMB 70,000,000

LITERATURE
2012 Beijing Artist Brings Visions of Birds and Bamboo to US / P14 / The Wall Street Journal
2012 The World According To Liu Ye / P45 / Art Bank
2012 Liu Ye: Bamboo Bamboo Broadway Leap / P207
2012 Bamboo Bamboo Broadway / P6 / Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York
2012 Structure, Light, Music：The Classical Memory of Liu Ye In Bamboo Bamboo Broadway / P40-43 / Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York
2012 Bamboo Bamboo Broadway / P7-8 / Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York
2013 Liu Ye / P102 P107 / Whitewall
2013 Grey Carnival: Art in China Since 2000 P122 / Guilin
2015 Dancing Snowflakes / P62 / Fine Arts Literature
2015 Liu Ye Catalogue Raisonne / P234-235 P348 / Hateje Cantz Verlag
2015 Liu Ye‘s Bamboo Modernism / Art in America / September 7, 2012
signed in pinyin and dated 2011-2012, signed in Chinese and dated 2012 (each one)
EXHIBITED
2012 Bamboo Bamboo Broadway Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, NY

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If we say that Liu Ye’s “assortment” uses representation to posit and weigh such a space of possibility, then the two " bamboo " paintings inscribe the act of actually placing oneself upon hat boundary line. Compared to his past works on the same subject, the already streamlined forms of bamboo are further simplified here. Not only have leaves been done away with, even the slightly bulging nodes have been done away with. These real-world elements, with their endless variety of slight details, give way to self-generated lines and planes deployed in space A spontaneous mode of inscription stirs the painter’s energy and ambition. The outsized Bamboo Bamboo Broadway can be seen as Liu Yes dialogue with late Mondrian. In the latter works the streets of Broadway were seen in overview and displayed as fascinating plan structures In Liu Yes view, Manhattan’s skyscrapers are surveyed from a vantage point, and the morphology of bamboo is transformed to a series of material phantoms within boundless empty space. In Composition with Bamboo No. 5 the emotional tone becomes more serene.
The painter seems to have gazed long and hard at bamboos in his courtyard, then closed the windows of his studio and put himself into a state of forgetting. Upon putting his brush to canvas, instead of saying that he imagined slender stems leaned at this angle and that, one should say that he was hearing the pure breath and growth rhythm of bamboo. This rhythm is intangible, but one would be justified in calling it a foundational component oof the universe.
Beginning from when they hear that rhythm, people proceed to enter into the hidden area between reality and authenticity, between relative and absolute. With further listening and sensing, their distinct identities will be realized through an expressive act. For instance, in the case of Li Shangyin it was realized in poetic form; in the case of Bach it was realized in the form of a fugue; for Vermeer it was realized as a painted interior scene. Black musicians realized it as jazz. Of course there was also Mondrian , who realized it in white , red , yellow , and blue as a " dialectic of the horizontal and the vertical " and at the same time acknowledged that nobody could realize it in an absolute way. “The personality of style can provide pattern and proportion whereby absolute characteristics can be manifested; it can express the spiritual face of time; it can also precisely determine a style that fits the era and can extend its vitality.” (Mondrian, Neo-Plasticism, 1920)
Not long ago Liu Ye used the bodily contours of a young girl as a means to realize the secret rhythm he heard. Now he explores imagery that is more particularly Chinese. Bamboo has been a favorite subject in our long artistic tradition. What’s more, literati have viewed it as a metaphor of a person’s moral fiber, because it lends itself to symbolism of uprightness, resilience, and humility. But such moral references are not where Liu Ye’s interest lies. In our historical typology, his inscriptive intent perhaps lies closest to that of Ni Zan. In his Inscription on a Painting of Bamboos, Ni Zan remarked, " For me painting bamboos is a way of rendering the untrammeled energies in my bosom. Why should I be picky about the degree of resemblance, or the relative density of leaves, or the slant of a stalk? I have made these renderings for so long that some people say they appear to be hemp, some people say they look like reeds. I can’t insist that they are bamboos, and there is really nothing I can do about what a viewer thinks. Ni Zan’s remarks reflect the difficulties he met with in his search for genuineness and purity, given the conditions of his period. Moreover, his comments can be seen as a forthright elucidation of an individual’s creative drive For Westerners the concept untrammeled energies " (yiqi) may sound overly arcane. To put it simply, it implies some sort of dynamic ground-stuff, it is something that beckons one away from material phenomena to dance along with natures transformations. On the basis of such a worldview, ancient Chinese long ago grasped that abstraction could be embedded within representation: " In painting one should render one’s inner intent. It is not a matter of physical semblance (Tang Hou, Examination of Painting [ Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368]) Thus, namely, Mondrian also partakes of the classical Chinese sensibility…
Liu Ye’s interplay of representation and abstraction points to a dance of formative energies. At the same time it reflects the course that he has gradually charted for himself between two traditions. These two traditions are abstraction - which Clement Greenberg called a “zenith” and Arthur Danto called dead end-and the Oriental classicism that was established by elite painters of the Song and Yuan. The two by no means stand in opposition. To put it somewhat flippantly, they can be like the two birds that are enticing each other in the painting Bird on Bird. Of course if we are only looking for products upon which the contemporary art context can slap a fashionable label of " cross-cultural, then we need not seek out deeply absorbing, inward works like Liu Ye’s, which find their possibilities by denying the impossible. For the fashionable article, it would suffice to attend one of the international expos that are being held worldwide. Products in such venues are like the nose of fib-telling Pinocchio, extending itself as far as it can go.
If we say that Liu Ye’s “assortment” uses representation to posit and weigh such a space of possibility, then the two " bamboo " paintings inscribe the act of actually placing oneself upon hat boundary line. Compared to his past works on the same subject, the already streamlined forms of bamboo are further simplified here. Not only have leaves been done away with, even the slightly bulging nodes have been done away with. These real-world elements, with their endless variety of slight details, give way to self-generated lines and planes deployed in space A spontaneous mode of inscription stirs the painter’s energy and ambition. The outsized Bamboo Bamboo Broadway can be seen as Liu Yes dialogue with late Mondrian. In the latter works the streets of Broadway were seen in overview and displayed as fascinating plan structures In Liu Yes view, Manhattan’s skyscrapers are surveyed from a vantage point, and the morphology of bamboo is transformed to a series of material phantoms within boundless empty space. In Composition with Bamboo No. 5 the emotional tone becomes more serene.
The painter seems to have gazed long and hard at bamboos in his courtyard, then closed the windows of his studio and put himself into a state of forgetting. Upon putting his brush to canvas, instead of saying that he imagined slender stems leaned at this angle and that, one should say that he was hearing the pure breath and growth rhythm of bamboo. This rhythm is intangible, but one would be justified in calling it a foundational component oof the universe.
Beginning from when they hear that rhythm, people proceed to enter into the hidden area between reality and authenticity, between relative and absolute. With further listening and sensing, their distinct identities will be realized through an expressive act. For instance, in the case of Li Shangyin it was realized in poetic form; in the case of Bach it was realized in the form of a fugue; for Vermeer it was realized as a painted interior scene. Black musicians realized it as jazz. Of course there was also Mondrian , who realized it in white , red , yellow , and blue as a " dialectic of the horizontal and the vertical " and at the same time acknowledged that nobody could realize it in an absolute way. “The personality of style can provide pattern and proportion whereby absolute characteristics can be manifested; it can express the spiritual face of time; it can also precisely determine a style that fits the era and can extend its vitality.” (Mondrian, Neo-Plasticism, 1920)
Not long ago Liu Ye used the bodily contours of a young girl as a means to realize the secret rhythm he heard. Now he explores imagery that is more particularly Chinese. Bamboo has been a favorite subject in our long artistic tradition. What’s more, literati have viewed it as a metaphor of a person’s moral fiber, because it lends itself to symbolism of uprightness, resilience, and humility. But such moral references are not where Liu Ye’s interest lies. In our historical typology, his inscriptive intent perhaps lies closest to that of Ni Zan. In his Inscription on a Painting of Bamboos, Ni Zan remarked, " For me painting bamboos is a way of rendering the untrammeled energies in my bosom. Why should I be picky about the degree of resemblance, or the relative density of leaves, or the slant of a stalk? I have made these renderings for so long that some people say they appear to be hemp, some people say they look like reeds. I can’t insist that they are bamboos, and there is really nothing I can do about what a viewer thinks. Ni Zan’s remarks reflect the difficulties he met with in his search for genuineness and purity, given the conditions of his period. Moreover, his comments can be seen as a forthright elucidation of an individual’s creative drive For Westerners the concept untrammeled energies " (yiqi) may sound overly arcane. To put it simply, it implies some sort of dynamic ground-stuff, it is something that beckons one away from material phenomena to dance along with natures transformations. On the basis of such a worldview, ancient Chinese long ago grasped that abstraction could be embedded within representation: " In painting one should render one’s inner intent. It is not a matter of physical semblance (Tang Hou, Examination of Painting [ Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368]) Thus, namely, Mondrian also partakes of the classical Chinese sensibility…
Liu Ye’s interplay of representation and abstraction points to a dance of formative energies. At the same time it reflects the course that he has gradually charted for himself between two traditions. These two traditions are abstraction - which Clement Greenberg called a “zenith” and Arthur Danto called dead end-and the Oriental classicism that was established by elite painters of the Song and Yuan. The two by no means stand in opposition. To put it somewhat flippantly, they can be like the two birds that are enticing each other in the painting Bird on Bird. Of course if we are only looking for products upon which the contemporary art context can slap a fashionable label of " cross-cultural, then we need not seek out deeply absorbing, inward works like Liu Ye’s, which find their possibilities by denying the impossible. For the fashionable article, it would suffice to attend one of the international expos that are being held worldwide. Products in such venues are like the nose of fib-telling Pinocchio, extending itself as far as it can go.
Try to make it more pure, and reduce the early emotion, narration and plot to the dependent elements of painting itself, such as proportion, tone and structure.
—LIU YE
Liu Ye’s paintings happen to coincide with the characteristics of “new-generation” Chinese paintings in the early 1990s – the mental state of alienation from the outside world and returning to their own living space. The new generation grew up in the period of social and cultural transformation in China. As group consciousness dissipates and the individual consciousness is raised, the “new generation” attaches greater importance to individual experience, but the individual emotions and lives remote from the locality exhibit global charms. Despite being rooted in the realism tradition like the “new generation”, Liu Ye is different from the artists who followed the avant-garde and the spirit of the times due to his expression of abstract emotions, the cartoon style with a sense of detachment, and ethereal and tranquil picture effect.
Liu Ye was born into a family of intellectuals in Beijing in 1964. From 1984 to 1994, he studied at the Beijing Arts and Crafts School, the Mural Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the Universität der Künste Berlin successively. His mother is a Chinese teacher at a high school, and his father is a children’s literature writer working at Beijing People’s Art Theatre. Thanks to the edifying and happy family environment, he views the world from a child’s perspective in his works, and perceives the pure emotions of solitude. A child’s perspective is the most innocent, but offers the clearest insight into the world affairs. The signature images of children in his works created since the end of the 1990s seem to be engrossed in their little worlds. He is skillful at reproducing the children’s fantasy world and a sense of theater. He was greatly influenced by his father when he was young. Dramas and movies have a significant influence on art creation by Liu Ye. In an interview in 2007, he shared his views on movies: “Our lives are actually like movies...everyone is acting a part.” Whether it be a red curtain, red sun, green pine, or a navy, these elements often appear in Liu Ye’s paintings with the effect of stage setting, without any political and social allusions. He merely presents the environmental features he was familiar with in his childhood in a theatrical effect. The poet Zhu Zhu pointed out the “return to native place” complex in the Liu Ye – Complete Collection of Catalogs: “Returning to the native place means getting back to a familiar environment geographically, and also to one’s childhood psychologically. In the painting, he seems to be able to remove the mask as an adult, and becomes a child indulging in dreams. It was since that time that he consciously used the literary form of fairy tales to construct his own painting situation and produce Chinese version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.”
Compared to conceptual art that attempts to disrupt or destroy painting, Liu Ye believes in the power of painting. He said in an interview that: “Painting requires craftsmanship. The idea of a conceptual artist is highly important, while what is the most important for a painter is practice. In the absence of long-term practice, the painter lacks inspiration. Painting creates an endless space. Once you enter the space, you can devote your life to it.” Therefore, Liu Ye is a “contemporary classic painter” in a sense” and absorbs nourishment from masterpieces in the art masters. His works created around the mid-1990s were imbued with Margaret-style restrained bizarre fantasy. Early Northern Renaissance painter Jan Van Eyck, classical masters Petrus Christus and Johannes Vermeer, modern masters Balthus and Paul Klee have a greater influence on Liu Ye. The shadows of veteran Western masters can be seen from the calm temperament, subject matter, composition, model, and color. Liu Ye speaks highly of the elegant and ethereal feeling in the Song and Yuan landscape paintings. As for the dispute over ancient and modern art, he is of the firm opinion that: “It is absolutely a mistake to divide the history.” The images of Mondrian’s abstract paintings are the most distinct master symbols in Liu Ye’s works, but Mondrian is also a sign in Liu Ye’s works. Liu Ye began to learn about Mondrian and his abstract paintings when studying industrial design at the Beijing Arts and Crafts School. However, instead of following Mondrian for geometric abstraction, Liu Ye kept the narrative of paintings as much as possible. Be that as it may, Mondrian’s influence on Liu Ye is of decisive significance – getting rid of the complicated representations visible from the retina, and seeking the pure truth in the world. This truth is cosmic. What Mondrian holds Liu Ye spellbound is just this belief in the real world. As he put it, it is the “inner, quiet, and eternal thing”.
“Bamboo Bamboo Broadway” (2012) is first abstract painting by Liu Ye in a real sense. It is named in honor of its birthplace - a studio located in Broadway, but also out of reverence for Mondrian’s masterpiece Broadway Boogie-Woogie (1943). In 2007, the image of bamboo appeared for the first time in Composition with Bamboo and Tree, a landscape painting by Liu Ye, and then in Composition of Bamboo No. 1, No. 2 (2007), No. 3 (2008), and No. 4 (2011). Bamboo becomes the protagonist rather than part of the landscape. It is geometrically processed, but the details of bamboo branches and joints were still kept. Just as Mondrian reduces the image of an apple tree to an ellipse filled with vertical and parallel short straight lines. Liu Ye did likewise, only that he chose bamboo, which is simpler than apple trees in shape, as the object. The straight bamboo has the sense of towering Gothic buildings. Bamboo, Bamboo, Broadway created in 2012 is devoid of all the branches and joints that fork in the middle section, leaving vertical bamboo poles and vertically irregularly intertwined bamboo branches of varying thickness to show the rhythm of breathing and growth. The picture has the gray-green tone, like gray-white. The gaps between interlaced bamboo branches faintly show geometric color lumps of similar tones, as if the changing light and shadow of the bamboo forest swaying in the breeze. The color of Liu Ye’s bamboo paintings are chiefly gray-green with low saturation. The bamboo branches are slender. The abstract method is used for the essential structure of bamboo. For overall interest, it is refined and elegant like Song and Yuan literati landscape paintings: “make light of method”, “focus on the image”. It is suitable for detached paintings. Udo Kittelmann, director of the National Gallery in Berlin, commented on Liu Ye: “I have seen his paintings which are fine pictorial information that is conveyed between the Western culture and Asian culture. These two worlds are often regarded as a contradiction. At that time, Liu Ye’s paintings took my breath away, because his works showed dialectical ideas, linking China’s diverse culture in many ways, and also showing his deep understanding of European culture and the history of painting. His paintings are rooted in traditional Eastern and Western wisdom and contemporary art, integrating the power of the past with the future.” This attribute of Liu Ye’s art is mirrored in all his paintings in his mature period, whether it be the “bamboo” series, “fairy tale” series, “character” series, or “building blocks”, “books”, “stationery” and other still life series.
It is meaningless to use concrete or abstract to describe Liu Ye’s paintings. Liu Ye wants to express the most common human emotions and traits: happiness, melancholy, loneliness, kindness, beauty, innocence... It is the most individual and cosmic, shared by people in the world. Liu Ye holds the view that: “I am more touched by these most basic human emotions than political concepts.” Liu Ye’s paintings are not so-called “meaningful” paintings, but touching paintings. There must be universal law and eternity in art. The symbols of Mondrian abstract paintings that are used by Liu Ye in more than twenty years of creation represent Liu Ye’s personal pursuit of the eternal nature of art. In his paintings, it is expressed as the most common human emotions and quiet temperament. As Paul Moorhouse, director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, commented: “Liu Ye’s focus is extended to the deep structure of art. He often asks himself which images should be selected, and how to reveal their hidden structure. At the same time, his portraits, landscape paintings and still life are support that can be added in terms of imagination and expression. His works confirm Wilde’s artistic statements on representation and imagery, no matter whether it appears in a symbolic image or invisibly guides the generation of images. The relationship between Liu Ye and his works is both real and visible, and also difficult to pin down. By extension, Liu Ye is always faithful to the central theme of this art. His art is an enchanting encryption of his appearance.”