The Symbolism of That Era- A Conversation Between Artist Liu Liguo & Renowned Art Critic He Guiyan

YANG GALLERY Beijing is proud to present established artist Liu Liguo's Solo Exhibition 'Trafficking Imagination' from the 17th April - 18th May 2012. We sat down with Liu Liguo and renowned Chinese Contemporary art critic He Guiyan to understand more about the whimsical creations by one of the most collectible and representational Chinese artists today. 

He Guiyan: The early 1990s, along with the “New Generation”, “Political Pop, Cynical Realism,” saw the rise of contemporary painting and a clear shift away from the grand narrative, away from the Enlightenment sense of and active involvement in reality. Your early works were in 1993, and looking back, before and after, do you say you have a primary style?

Liu Liguo: I’d say my style still retains the characteristics of 1980s modernism, but also has that influence by the Pope expression of the early 1990s.

He: A large shift in the 1993-1995 works embodied in the “Sunflower Series” is one full of flashy atmosphere; the other is the image of “the buttocks”. What lead to such a change?

Liu: It was mainly because the Chinese door just 'opened' and “Westernization” came in,  the contrasts in the environment due to the influences from the two are particularly high, so in my heart there is a sense of loss. At this point, on one side the view was the West is good and we are bad, we should throw 'ourselves' away. But in my opinion, the traditions are good things, why should we abandon them, why would they point to the existence of no value? Thus, during my creation I want to forsake this kind of extreme attitude. Most of my work give people a witty banter and festive feeling, like Fang Lijun, sometimes there are some strong emotions.... My relatively mild, character stops me from I doing the kind of bloody, violent, intense or confrontational works. I hope to release some feelings with my sense of humor. “Buttocks” image is very elegant, but at the same time the traditional mentality is thinking that it is ugly, ashamed to be seen. However, with the “bouquet” and juxtaposition, there will be a sense of absurdity. A “Bouquet” is elegant, and “buttocks” is indecent, visually, they are both familiar and unfamiliar, but when the two symbols are set into one, ridiculousness and absurdity tend to diffuse out.
He: Your more recent works retain some common features from the 1990s, such as flat images, the Pope of flashy technology. 'Sunflower Series' from the outset in the visual images and symbols change, instead of 1980s modernist style, focus on the exploration of form and language.

Liu: We all want to work with personal symbols, and as typically as possible. The symbols are our links to that era.

He: How did you choose the personal symbols you retained from those eras?

Liu: When I chose the “buttocks” image as a symbol, my initial intuition was that this symbol must be typical. From the beginning I thought that if it wasn't so, people would be unfamiliar with the concept and that it would take a long time to understand and to get familiar with.

In my opinion, the artist needs to understand and control his or her own energy. So, I looked for one of the most familiar symbols, one that everyone will recognize, then applied it to my work. No matter your race or skin tone, you would understand the symbol. To such an extent that this symbol is the fly. In “Political Pop”, the artist began to use a variety of “Cultural Revolution” symbol, for example, Fang Lijun’s bald heads is concluded as a form of “silent cry out”. Obviously, a clear symbol can strengthen the expression of the intensity of the work. Of course, for the artist, when you choose a good symbol, you also need to manipulate its form and language conversion. 

He: “Volkswagen model” from the mid-1990s, “Gaudy Life”, and then to the Art Museum in Tianjin TEDA in 1999, Century Rainbow - Gaudy Art “exhibition, gaudy art became one of the important artistic trends of the late-1990s.

Liu: It was the friends of Li Xianting, whom is Gaudy Art's most important backup. There is a young critic Yang Wei, also painted in the mid-1990s with flashy-styled works, then slowly turned to the curatorial. In fact, at that time of the exhibition, the atmosphere was very different to what we’re used to today. For example, if today’s curators and critics were to write something, he would go to the artists to obtain the relevant information. But back then we had to do work with each other to discuss what I will do, what I will tell you, you give me comments, I will tell you how to do this work... But now there’s the batch of young critics, such as Zhu Qi, Huang Du, kaolinite with whom you are very familiar with.

He: The flashy style of your early paintings has continued in the porcelain works, and from the theme point of view, the works since 2000 in the content on the content of greater embodied in the “Feast”, “Classic Series” in. And at the same time, these works are filled with a strong folk flavor, and still containing the expression of “parody” and “irony”.  

Liu: Porcelain completely suited my expression style, it is gorgeous, glamorous, more in line with my expression... Therefore my work is beaming, and allows me to express the kind of self-satisfaction. However, from the physical properties of the material, although it is ornamental, the porcelain itself is fragile. Therefore, the porcelain expresses, ironically, the kind of extremely impetuous upstart mentality. For example, when we buy a bottle of Remy Martin we will want to finish it, although the consumer can afford buying Remy, but there is the psychological side to it as well. 'In the past, you look down on me, but now that I have money, I am very powerful and I can afford Remy.' It is a state of mind. I remember when I was in college,  Puma, Adidas shoes were always too expensive and I could not afford them. In order to have a sense of satisfaction, we drew similar trademarks or logos on our own shoes, although it is false, but it meet our own vanity. The gorgeous porcelain surface with its own fragility could represent a certain hidden kind of illusory self-expanding desires. I once did a lecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts to talk about the unique nature of the material, do not think you just can make porcelain the same way one makes bronze or resin, they are only a mean, on the contrary a mature artist will control language, let the material speak for itself to showcase a good combination with your theme.

He: In a “modern country, dislocation and absurd phenomenon is normal. However, the image's narrative point of view, the scene of these pieces when placed in the works, it will form a new image landscape.

Liu: The landscape of the performance comes from my studies. I studied stage design at the College of Performing Arts, and I was also involved in the shooting of movies and TV shows. I prefer the drama of the symbolism, such as the Soviet Union, Stanislavsky, Brecht, Germany, in my works, I will subconsciously show these elements.

He: Your early porcelain features the “Buttocks” image, looking at your recent works, you seemed to be still more concerned about sexual and erotic ideas.

Liu: Yes, this feeling has always been there. However, the recent two years of works consider more on artistic language. I hope that the style should not be too different, to prevent weakening the characteristics of the painting itself. I hope to impress the audience first of all pure visual rendering rather than painting techniques or texture, because they are merely means. In my work, image and landscape significance is of greater value then the painting techniques and language.

He: The development of the creative context of individual artists, these works from one side to reflect the “flashy” a change in track since the 1990s. From popular culture of the 1990s, the context of the consumer era response to the face of globalization from post-colonial impact of the wave, my question is; after the exhibition of the century rainbow “,” is 'gaudy' coming to an end? In other words, after 2000, has Gaudy Art evolved, or have there been an emergence of new variant? How do you view the changes in the context of your personal creation?

Liu: During the 1990s it had been one-sided, the West is very strong. That had been globalized but the international point of view, our art is still not out of the locality, so I cannot evade the “post-colonial vision. However, the situation today is that China has fully integrated into the wave of globalization, we are equal with the West and is the same on the world stage. So, I hope we can use an international language to express and not geographically, showing its openness, inclusiveness, in order to truly reflect the culture of versatility. However, in the face of rapidly changing international artistic trends, is not only confusing for most artists my age but also a huge challenge. “Gaudy” came to be an artist, everyone needs to “transition”. Some people may turn better, and some may eventually turn back. In fact, the creation of state can be applied to all artists, but I prefer to have creative artists such as Damien Hirst, like the Flaming Mountains, passion, every year, new works, new tricks. Most artists cannot do this here side of both creativity and dominated by the art market. Gaudy Art “has passed, it is a product of that particular era. Not the same as in the past, when the art is biased in favour of trend, but today’s art is full of many possibilities. Of course, the risk of getting a new thing to be recognized needs time, but if I like it and I'm willing to do so. I can follow my original clues to paint, no problem, but if I do not like it, it will make people uncomfortable. Although in the past we have made some achievements, but artists have to be brave enough to challenge their own art, in itself is the individual’s labour and manifestation of self-worth, so we need to continue to go beyond. I adhere to the ever-creative motivation.  - 15th January 2012