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Born in Beijing in 1965, Liu Wei’s upbringing and creative experiences clearly left an imprint on the artist's life, ushered in by the ever-changing conceptual and societal environment resulting from the several drastic social changes in the new China. Liu Wei enrolled in the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1985, just as Chinese society was awakening from the decade-long torment of the Cultural Revolution, returning to humanity from a state of chaos and confusion, and subsequently welcoming the prosperous cultural revival of the country. Living at the centre of this culture, Liu Wei has therefore developed an open and free way of thinking.
Liu Wei, You Like Pork?, 1995
Exhibited in the main gallery of the 46th Venice Biennale, 1995In the early 1990s, the illusion of a utopic system once constructed was hit and collapsed by an onslaught of market-oriented reform, making ‘helplessness’ the best analogy for people's living conditions. The sense of boredom brought on by this feeling had prompted a generation of artists, inclusive of Liu Wei, to abandon the grand narratives and the sorrowful seriousness of their predecessors, using observation and cynicism instead to depict a reality that is both banal and absurd. The Revolutionary Family series, created in the early 1990s, was made within this context. After participating in two consecutive Venice Biennales and São Paulo Art Biennial from 1993 to 1995, Liu Wei lessened the political metaphors in his works in the mid to late 1990s while retaining a playful and cynical undertone. He then turned his attention to the realities of everyday life to immerse himself in human nature and to fully understand the long-suppressed emotional impulses in traditional Chinese culture. In 1995, Liu Wei created the visually striking You Like Pork?, which was exhibited in the main gallery of the 46th Venice Biennale, followed by the Who Am I and the No Smoking series, all of which continue this corrupted and chaotic brushwork.
Liu Wei, Landscape, 1998Created in 1998, You Like Smoking? is one of the earliest works in the No Smoking series. The No Smoking series was Liu Wei’s main creation from 1998 to 1999, notable for its pink colour, decaying flesh, skulls and English writing symbols: the artist's characteristic traits during this period of creation. In this period, Liu Wei abandoned the application of criticism and cynicism to deconstruct the political forces that weere unique to China, and rather expressed the morbid sense of disorder that characterised the times through a straight forward and intuitive visual language. Continuing the nerve-racking brushwork from his previous series, the use of festering faces and large scales of rotting flesh-like pink colours in the No Smoking series added to the visual effect of collapse and paranoia, and the confusion and anxiety brought about by the loss of spiritual support: a subconscious expression of Liu Wei’s own emotions. You Like Smoking? is not only the debut piece of the No Smoking series, but it also sets the tone for the series’ grotesque and inflated characters. To express the spreading trend of the festering, the artist fills the whole picture with pink, melting the boundary between the flesh and the realistic background. Natural drip of paint is used to depict the blistered and swollen faces. With their sly eyes full of disdain for the world and the fingers clutching a cigarette in unrealistic proportions, obstinate and unruly characters portrayed by Liu Wei in this series seemed to have lived an ordinary life that is so twisted and deviant, that it conveys the disillusionment with the rapid development of society and the spiritual degradation brought about by the consumerist society in the specific context of the time.
Chaïm Soutine, Carcass of Beef, 1925
Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, USAIn You Like Smoking?, Liu Wei expresses an instinctive and animalistic aesthetic through an expressionist approach, such as the flesh-and-bloody animal carcasses depicted by the 20th century expressionist artist Chaïm Soutine, which are dismembered, distorted to highly distilled abstract forms to express a frenzied, taboo and pessimistic state of mind. Against the backdrop of a disordered and chaotic society, based on inner subjective emotion, Liu Wei boldly exposed the rottenness, ugliness and tension of chaos to the public by forming a subversive aesthetic that makes the paintings a carrier of introspection, unease and loss of control. The artist philosophically questioned death and life, emptiness and decay in his Who Am I series in the mid to late 1990s. The No Smoking series inherits this deep contemplation and shows the dramatic tension of defending oneself as wonderful instead of admitting one's fault. As the debut piece of the No Smoking series, You Like Smoking? on auction this time is a rare piece because of its outstanding expressionism trait and pioneering personal style.
Francis Bacon, Figure with Meat, 1954
Collection of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USAProvenance
Private Collection
Christie's, Hong Kong, 25 November 2007, lot 510
Private Collection, Europe
Christie's, Hong Kong, 23 November 2013, lot 56
Acquired at the above sale by the present ownerExhibited
Paris, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Made by Chinese #7, 13 June - 12 July 2002, p. 90 (illustrated)
Literature
Red Bridge Gallery, ed., Liu Wei, Shanghai, 2008, pl. 47, pp. 105, 269 (illustrated)
Lin & Lin Gallery, ed., Liu Wei: A Solo Painter, Taipei, 2012, p. 93 (illustrated)
Property from an Important Private Asian Collection
Ж40
You Like Smoking?
signed and dated 'Liu Wei [in Chinese and Pinyin] 1998.' lower centre
oil on canvas
100 x 100 cm. (39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.)
Painted in 1998.
Estimate
HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
€340,000-566,000
$385,000-641,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Head of Evening Sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in Association with Poly Auction
Hong Kong Auction 30 November 2021
1
Cinga Samson
Ivory V
Estimate HK$250,000 - 350,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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2
Salman Toor
East Village Iqbal Bano
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$4,536,000
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3
Nina Chanel Abney
Untitled (IXI Black)
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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4
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Clear Cough from Your Schedule
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$781,200
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5
Mr.
Yume—Breath of the Earth
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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6
Julie Curtiss
Escargot
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,449,000
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7
Javier Calleja
30 works: Untitled
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$12,108,000
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8
Javier Calleja
You Me
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for HK$7,026,000
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9
Aya Takano
In the Lab (the Birth of Jelly)
Estimate HK$200,000 - 300,000
Sold for HK$441,000
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10
Hernan Bas
Minimalism (cracking the code)
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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11
Joel Mesler
Untitled (Night Out)
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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12
Shara Hughes
Magic Island
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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13
Scott Kahn
Cadman Plaza
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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14
Matthew Wong
Nature’s Church
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$9,204,000
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15
Matthew Wong
Far Away Eyes
Estimate HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for HK$21,183,000
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16
Gerhard Richter
Kerzenschein (Candle-light)
Estimate HK$55,000,000 - 75,000,000
Sold for HK$101,970,000
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Yayoi Kusama
INFINITY-NETS (OPRT)
Estimate HK$15,000,000 - 25,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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19
Yayoi Kusama
Repetition
Estimate HK$15,000,000 - 20,000,000
Sold for HK$19,005,000
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20
Nicolas Party
Still Life
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 9,400,000
Sold for HK$17,190,000
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21
David Hockney
Bridlington Violets
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$12,350,000
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22
Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita
Self-Portrait with a Cat
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$5,292,000
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23
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24
Sanyu
Paysage Aux Hirondelles
Estimate HK$26,000,000 - 46,000,000
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25
Zao Wou-Ki
Sans titre ("Notre Dame")
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$10,051,000
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26
Zao Wou-Ki
Brume d’automne
Estimate HK$4,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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27
Auguste Rodin
Le Baiser, 1ère réduction dite aussi "réduction n°1"
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$11,745,000
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28
Zao Wou-Ki
20.3.64.
Estimate HK$20,000,000 - 30,000,000
Sold for HK$22,030,000
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29
This lot is no longer available.
30
Alexander Calder
Two Red Petals in the Air
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 20,000,000
Sold for HK$20,820,000
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31
Claude Monet
Pavots dans un vase de Chine
Estimate HK$9,500,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
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32
Georges Mathieu
Saxifrage
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Huang Yuxing
Floating Bubbles
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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35
Zhou Chunya
Smell the Flowers
Estimate HK$5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for HK$6,905,000
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36
This lot is no longer available.
37
Liu Ye
Flagship No. 2
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$5,922,000
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38
Wang Xingwei
Untitled (Heart-Shaped Dance)
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 4,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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39
Liu Ye
Untitled
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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40
Liu Wei
You Like Smoking?
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Izumi Kato
Untitled
Estimate HK$4,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$11,745,000
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42
Yoshitomo Nara
Pandora's Box
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
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43
George Condo
The Dreamer
Estimate HK$4,600,000 - 6,200,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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44
George Condo
Entangled Figures
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 9,200,000
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45
This lot is no longer available.
46
KAWS
NEW YORK
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$5,040,000
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47
KAWS
FINAL DAYS
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 8,200,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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48
Raymond Pettibon
Untitled (Force makes nature...)
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,906,000
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49
Robert Nava
Angel Shark
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$4,410,000
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50
Susumu Kamijo
Marching To The Sun
Estimate HK$450,000 - 650,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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51
Jadé Fadojutimi
Fishing For Steps
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 2,200,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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52
Mickalene Thomas
Looking Up from the She Works Hard For the Money Pin-Up series
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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53
Billie Zangewa
Cirque d'hiver
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$567,000
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54
Godwin Champs Namuyimba
The Connector
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$1,323,000
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55
Tunji Adeniyi-Jones
Blue Ancestor
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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56
Tomoo Gokita
Final Confrontation
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 2,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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57
Ewa Juszkiewicz
Appropriation
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,890,000
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58
Lucas Arruda
Untitled from the series Deserto-Modelo
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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