Liu Sheng

 

I have been paying attention to Liu Sheng's painting practice in the past few years. If his initial observation and description of the villagers of the Xisan Village in Panyu was a narrative entry point, then after returning to his hometown to farm, Liu Sheng's practice has expanded to new frontiers in the face of a unfamiliar and complex rural life. He not only responds to the times, but also creatively builds his own unique aesthetic world. Like a hard-working farmer, he carries out complicated and arduous cultivation on the land of speech, inventing his own syntax and rhetoric, and searching for the most relevant fruits to express. His exploration has also inspired me: how “narrativity” in painting can be developed, activated and recreated in the midst of contradictions and complexity - an ever-opening field of experimentation. Liu Sheng once again proves the flexibility and potential of traditional media, which is now becoming more and more meaningful.” - Duan Jianyu