Liu Ye - New Now & Design Hong Kong Sunday, November 26, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Rich in aesthetic, historical and literary meaning, the bewildering yet charming works of Chinese artist Liu Ye is influenced by both his formative education in Europe and his fascination with the surreal. Challenging the viewer to participate in a world liberated from the concrete and the present, Liu’s distinct visual vocabulary has helped distinguish his meditative works from his peers, cementing his status as one of the most important living contemporary Chinese artists in modern times.

     

    Painted in 2000, Hey! has remained in private hands since its execution and was initially commissioned for the same family who still holds it today. The work not only recalls Liu’s continued interest in portraiture and his recurring motif of celestial beings, but also reflects his extensive knowledge of Western cultural history. Upon graduating from Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1990, Liu Ye continued his studies for another four years at Berlin's Universität der Künste, and later took up a six-month residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 1998. It was around this time where the current work was conceptualised and created. In Amsterdam, Liu’s immersion in European paintings exposed him to the stable compositions and naturalism of the Renaissance, as well as the theatricality and highly ornate language of Baroquism.

     

    In the present work, a young child with rosy cheeks looks out at the audience, and sticks out their tongue out playfully as their hand points into the distance. Placing them within a monochrome background, there is an endearing air of juvenility that emits from the minimalistic composition, which tightens the viewer’s focus on the sitter, both invoking and destabilising traditional conventions of European portraiture. The lone wing on the protagonist’s back references the motif of putto (cherubs) often found in 15th to 17th century European art, masterfully combining the youthful realism of the Renaissance with the playfulness commonly seen in the Baroque period.

     

     

    Left: Andrea del Verrocchio, Putto Poised on a Globe, circa 1480
    Collection of the National Gallery or Art, Washington, D.C.
    Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.128
    Right: Peter Paul Rubens, The Feast of Venus, 1635-1636
    Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
    Image: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Scala, Florence

     

    A supernatural being that does not exist in real life, cherubs could also be seen as an extension of Liu’s own childhood memories. The son of a famous children’s playwright, he had access to a trove of story books despite the ban on Western books at the time and was deeply inspired by the works of authors such as Hans Christian Andersen. By employing the fictive concept of angel wings, it gives the depicted scene a fairy-tale like allure. But unlike his previous forays into black humour under the guise of fantasy, the present work is imbued with a sense of innocence despite its connections to reality.

     

    Left: Piet Mondrian, Opposition of Lines, Red and Yellow, 1937
    Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
    Image: Philadelphia Museum of Art, A. E. Gallatin Collection, 1952, 1952-61-90
    Right: Detail of the present lot

     

    During his time in Europe, Liu also became fascinated with modern artists and movements including Italian Metaphysical Art and Surrealism. Notably, he cites his greatest inspiration to be Piet Mondrian, famous for his abstract geometric paintings that pioneered the De Stijl movement:

     

    "The appearance of Mondrian's paintings within my own paintings is spiritual. His paintings are so simply conceived with the most basic colours and vertical and horizontal lines. I also wish to address the question of simplicity."
    — Liu Ye

     

    One of many instances where Liu makes direct reference to the Dutch artist is his 1995 painting featuring an entire recreation of Mondrian’s iconic Broadway Boogie Woogie; whilst the young protagonist in the current work Hey! also holds what appears to be one of Mondian’s grid compositions.

     

    “When you look at the canon, from classical to modernism, just when things start to get boring, Mondrian comes along and just makes so much sense. He elevates art to a new level. Even though he advocated rationalism, to me, his paintings were very sensuous and spiritual.”
    — Liu Ye on Piet Mondrian

     

    Beyond the physical inclusion of famed artworks however, Liu pays homage to Mondrian in subtler ways, as his captivation with the Dutch artist translates seamlessly onto canvas through the use of a well-balanced composition and an emphasis on geometric alignment. This is seen where the artist deliberately places the child in the centre of the work, with their extended arm in parallel to the horizontal edges. The background is also separated diagonally by a rhombus of light, creating a sense of equilibrium that stems from the emphasis on strict linear preoccupation. This subtle hint at an outside light source that possibly stems from a window is also seen in the artist’s previous works, such as She Isn’t Afraid of Mondrian, 1995.

     

    In addition to geometry, Liu’s bold use of primary colours also heavily references Mondrian’s signature colour palette. Whether it be the distinctive background in the current work, the child’s clothing, or even their big, dreamy eyes, Hey! is dominated by various shades of blue, a colour often found in the whimsical works of Liu.

     

    Left: The current lot
    Right: Yves Klein, Blue Monochrome, 1961
    Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York
    Image: The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence, Artwork: © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

     

    The unique powdery blue as seen in Hey! is more than a continuation of the artist’s own infatuation with the trifecta of red, yellow and blue --- it can also be placed within a large lineage of blue pigments found throughout art history, from the ultramarine blue found in the works of Johannes Vermeer, to International Klein Blue (IKB) created by French artist Yves Klein. The latter, known for its singularity and purity of colour, is representative of Klein’s attempt to develop a pigment that ‘would evoke a unification of heaven and earth.’ [i] Similarly, the extensive use of blue in the present work’s background elevates the protagonist onto a floating stage under spotlight, outside of time and space. A bold mix of art historical hallmarks, Hey! presents to us a stunning conflation of the theatrical and the whimsical, and an ever-growing world that is uniquely Liu’s own.

     

     

    Collector's Digest

     

    • Liu’s most recent solo show, titled Liu Ye: Naive and Sentimental Painting, has just closed at David Zwirner London, and was on view 10 October — 18 November 2023.
    • Having exhibited extensively across the world, Liu Ye has been the subject of several museum shows including Mondrian and Liu Yev at Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort (2016), and Window on China at Kunstmuseum Bern (2007).
    • Other notable exhibitions include: Liu Ye: Storytelling, which was first presented at Prada Rong Zhai in Shanghai (2018-2019), then travelled to the Fondazione Prada in Milan (2020-2021).
    • Liu’s paintings are held in numerous prominent collections, including but not limited to that of the Long Museum in Shanghai, the M+ Sigg Collection in Hong Kong, and the Today Art Museum in Beijing.
    • Undeniably at the forefront of Asian contemporary art, Liu’s powerfully eloquent works are widely praised by critics and highly sought after by collectors.

     

     

    i Hannah Weitemeier, Yves Klein: 1928-1962, Germany, 2001, p. 15

    • Provenance

      Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist)

Ж38

Hey!

signed, titled and dated '"HEY!" 2000 YE [in Chinese and English]' lower right
oil on canvas
35.3 x 27.3 cm. (13 7/8 x 10 3/4 in.)
Painted in 2000.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000 
€355,000-591,000
$385,000-641,000

Sold for HK$3,556,000

Contact Specialist

Angela Tian
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now & Design Sale
20th Century & Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
+852 2318 2058
AngelaTian@phillips.com

New Now & Design

Hong Kong Auction 26 November 2023