An Honest Recorder Of The Times

In the1990s, great changes occurred in Chinese economic and ideological fields. The introduction of a large number of Western technologies and cultures into China greatly influenced and impacted people’s original values. Under this context, many artists who were greatly affected by Western modern arts and philosophies tried to combine Western modern art forms with societal realities in China, in order to create Chinese modern art.As one of the most important artists of the1990s in China, Liu Xiaodong displayed his works as early as the1980s at the Chinese Modern Art Exhibition. Unfortunately, the influence of those works was overwhelmed by other modern fine arts of the time. But he did not follow the crowd and join modern fine artists who integrated metaphysical concepts into their painting and regarded the painting as a tool for philosophical and conceptual illustration. On the contrary, he firmly adhered to a realistic painting concept to draw things he was familiar with and interested in from a realistic perspective, and to illustrate the living conditions of people at that time. The nobodies and scenes which were then considered unworthy of being painted were given profound meanings through realistic and frank portrayals in his paintings. His painting creations had disengaged themselves from the previous realist painting mould, both in terms of subject matter and forms of expression, elevating Chinese realistic painting to a new height.Taking painting creations of Liu as the research subject, this paper aims at a relatively comprehensive discussion on his painting concept and style through such research methods as image analysis, sociology of art, and literature analysis. Firstly, based on the study of historical and cultural background of Liu, this paper analyzed the reasons for the formation of his painting style. Secondly, Characteristic features of Liu’s paintings were analyzed from the perspective of his painting techniques and perspective. Finally, the influence Liu had on Chinese realistic painting were explored, which contributes to further understanding of the value of Liu’s painting creations and their role in the development of Chinese realistic painting.