This time, Liu focuses on certain individuals with whom he enjoys an intimate bond: his mother, brother, his wife Yu Hong and daughter Honghaier, and three close friends. His works examine what these intimate relationships mean to his life, through which he addresses eternal topics such as friendship, aging and death.
You Yang, UCCA's deputy director, says Liu had the idea to paint those closest to him when spending time in New York during lockdown in 2020-his flights back home had been canceled because of the pandemic, and he, along with his wife and daughter, was confined to the neighborhood surrounding their apartment.
You says Liu began with the paintings soon after he returned home and completed them last summer. His output draws people's attention to the kinship between a mother and her children, between brothers and between husband and wife; this subtle familiarity has intensified as time goes by and becomes even more appealing.
