Liu Ye

Inspired by his father, a children's book author, Beijing-based artist Liu Ye's (born 1964) paintings are reminiscent of cartoons and illustrations in children's books. This first catalogue raisonné featuring Ye's sensitive, small-format works provides an overview of his creative output during 1991–2013.

Liu Ye's unique experience as one of the few Beijing-based artists to travel regularly between Europe and China has allowed him, in his own words, "to concentrate on himself." During his youth, Liu was heavily influenced by the Cultural Revolution. In his art, he negotiates the dual effect of this cataclysmic social movement and its corresponding kitsch propaganda art, creating an aesthetic world that appears to be superficially naive, but below the surface, is anything but. It is a world shaped by memories from Liu Ye's younger years, taking in fairy tales and a child's concept of happiness. By juxtaposing the catastrophes of recent world history with figures of winged girls and boys, Liu Ye's art drifts back into adolescence while sifting through these emotionally-laden memories. In work not far removed from sentimentality and the deceptive quality of kitsch, he combines the imagination and sensitivity of fantasy with the rigor of philosophical inquiry.