Liu Hui was born and grew up in Chengjiang County in Yuxi Prefecture, Yunnan, at the shore of a lake on a peaceful and mysterious plateau. After he graduated in 2015, he loaded his bike with everithing he needed, and bicyced from Kunming to Lhasa… He stayed for a year as a volunteer teacher in Dengqen County, Chamdo Prefecture, before he bicycled back in September 2016. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 he visited Lugu lake at the border of Yunnan and Sichuan, Luang Prabang in Laos and several places in India, where he did artists exploration and creation. In these artistic wanderings, he sketched all the images he saw. Drawing lines, aplying ink to paper, adding colours and writing the native letters. In these ways he captured the moments of inspiration, pain, loneliness, peacefulness, exitement on his journeys.The shapes of Liu Hui’s work are numerous and covers all the forms of contemporary art: Painting on canvas and paper, installation art, performance art, video works, etc. All these works take the soul of the places he visited on his journey as their source material. In all the different medias of art used the expressive language is clear, the appearance unique, the conception ingenious and novel, filled imagination and dreams, and possesing a strong visual and spiritual impact. Taking “Notes from Lugu Lake” as an example, the painted mountain and the constellation of faces in the sky epitomize an ancient and rustic pureness. The brush strokes are firm and self-assured, the colours use black and white as their basis, and only the faces in the sky have a little red and yellow. The creator masters a precision in this depiction of astately and magnificent night sky. This series of works all conveys the mysteriousness of the place, and the primeval character of the culture and life of is sharply felt. The pioneer of modern Chinese fine art, Mr. Wu Dayu said: “Morality is the basis of art”. Liu Hui’s vision is focused on the cultural art heartlands of the world, especially the things and people of “remote” areas. In the individual’s journey towards a decentralized art, not only is the distance between the heart and places far away reduced, but even more precious is the appearance in the artwork, of a sympathy towards different aesthetics and peripheral phenomena. When Liu Hui faces reality, I perceive a perseverance on his part, that surpasses that of most people his age. He is full of understanding and idealism, and in his art, I see an imagination that goes beyond reality, passionate yet dreamlike. Perhaps he is already in the balanced circle between reality and far away dreamlands and has achieved strength and peace in the heart.I wish all the best for the succes of Liu Hui’s exhibition.Doctor at the Department for Oil Painting at the Central Academy of Fine ArtsProfessor at Yunnan Arts University
Painting Liu Hui | Text: Zhang YuWhen looking at art it is often with a certain kind of regret. In my opinion, our encounters with art should be exciting.
A minute is not a long time, but it is perhaps still more time than we usually spend when looking at a piece of art. I have used melodies and sound recording from daily life and nature to “see” Liu Hui’s paintings, and created minute-long sound bites, that within a short time gives the viewer a more bodily experience, and comments on the paintings.
Art never has one final interpretation. Adding an auditory layer on top of a visual one stimulates the feelings and imagination of the viewer-listener. With this I want to give my birthday greetings to Liu Hui.Thank you for you paintings.
