Pungent Critique and Sincere Concern for Humanity
by Tao Yongbai

Influenced by traditional Chinese painting methods, Liu Yan uses realism and precise brushwork to create very modern paintings. Liu Yan’s paintings are eccentric, audacious and incredibly stimulating. Sometimes stunning, her work features the ironic, which give the paintings a memorable life living drama under her brush. Despite Liu Yan’s petite and gentle stature, she paints subject matter that is daring. Liu Yan challenges the viewer by using dark humor and broad vision all the while nodding to both traditional and contemporary art.

“The painting looks like the one who paints it”, says Liu Yan, who uses her personal experiences to inspire her work. Born in the 1960’s, she grew up in a hutong in old Beijing. During the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution, Liu Yan was sent to the countryside to become a worker. Later, the reform and opening of China gave her the chance to change her life. In 1986, Liu was able to fulfill her childhood dream of attending college. Under the influence of the old Beijing dynasty legacy and her life in an urban environment, her work became more dynamic. A fan of Beijing opera and rock-and-roll, antiques, and fashion, Liu Yan pursues a life of joy brought on by modern civilization without losing her value of history. Although she respects traditional Chinese art and culture, her art seeks to rebel against many such traditions, and she is influenced by western modern philosophy and art. Liu Yan enjoys reading Confucius and Mencius as well as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche with great interest. In her work she combines the influences of ancient classical artworks, such as those of Shi Tao, and Western painting conventions, such as sketching and coloring.