In another scene, Liu murmurs as he pays respect at his father's tomb: "I dreamed of you last night. I miss you. I should have been devoted to you more, when you were alive. It is just that back then, I was still young."
The film, directed by Yang Bo, drew wide acclaim when being screened at Liu Xiaodong: Your Friends, an exhibition held last year at UCCA Edge in Shanghai. Now it has captivated the audience in Beijing, as that same exhibition has arrived at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in the 798 art zone, and will run until April 10.
On show are oil portraits and watercolors depicting those figures featured in the documentary, as well as diaries and manuscripts, which reflect Liu's constant concern for the realities and mentality of ordinary people in our ever-changing world.
Your Friends has been Liu's second one-man show at the UCCA. His last solo exhibition at the same venue, Liu Xiaodong: Hometown Boy, held more than 10 years ago, revolved around those living in Jincheng. In those paintings of his family and hometown people, Liu presented shrewd observations of the varying states of mind of his fellow villagers, being mingled with the recollections of the past. As always, the photographic style of Liu's compositions and the loose brush strokes, layers upon layers, revealed to his viewers a bigger picture of the dramatic social changes and the fate of people involved.
