Artist Quote: “I like to find scenes that are part of life, of someone’s everyday existence and I choose places that interest me. When I paint someone, I want to capture their environment, their living state. I want to show the personal story behind the image of the person.” Achievements: Xiaodong is one of the most prominent oil painters in contemporary China. In 2019, his painting New Immigration to Three Gorges( 4 Panels) sold for $9,845,772 USD at China Guardian Auctions, Beijing . | About the Artist: Xiaodong received his BFA and MFA in painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in China, where he now teaches. He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Xiaodong depicts everyday people in his enormous oil-and-acrylic paintings. Xiaodong draws upon his upbringing in rural China in his approach to his subjects, who he describes as “ordinary, everyday folks.” He often works on site, painting his subjects right as they are in front of him, and en plein air (in nature). Many of his paintings are staged in areas of disaster with the ruin or pollution the background behind the subjects. In the example to the left, he set up his models in front of the ruin of an earthquake still yet to be cleaned up two years after the quake. He employs thick, luscious brushstrokes that emphasize the abstract nature of the medium while preserving a high degree of realism. |
Sources:
https://art21.org/artist/liu-xiaodong/
http://www.artnet.com/artists/liu-xiaodong/
https://art21.org/artist/liu-xiaodong/
http://www.artnet.com/artists/liu-xiaodong/