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Lot Essay
With childlike sentiments and classical aesthetic references, Liu Ye's art emerged from the depths of the prevalent socio-political emphasis of Political Pop and Cynical Realism in the early 1990s. Educated in Germany's Berlin University of the Arts, Liu Ye's artistic vision lies in "basic human sentiments such as humanitarianism, beauty, kindness, and sadness", which are far beyond any political concepts. Influenced by his father who was a children's literature writer, imageries of children, battleships and Dick Bruna's Miffy are the recurring cast in Liu Ye's imaginative canvases. His paintings conjure up the realms of Fairy Tales and childhood memories in the visual language of Dutch masters Piet Mondrian and Johannes Vermeer, creating a distinctive visual style drenched in an aura of stillness and mystery.
Women are prominent features in Liu Ye's artistic output. His heroines seek to seduce with their delicate limbs and baby doll features. Indeed, the artist once said 'Art has seduced me. At the same time, I have used art as a tool of seduction.' The painting Who is Afraid of Madame L? (Lot 32) is an example of this seductiveness. A young girl with almond shaped eyes beguiles us with her enigmatic expression and docile gentleness. Liu Ye's penchant for depicting adolescent girls is due to the fleetingness of innocence. He strives to capture a time when she is still unaware that beauty fades. Also, it is a kind of self-revelation on the artist's part. The artist confesses that "every painting is a self-portraitK the little girls, therefore, are me, but more beautiful."
The figure's pencil-thin figure stands amidst a plain white background. The artist interprets the human figure with geometric forms: the roundness of the head is in the shape of a circle, while the body and the whip form the shape of a triangle, and the legs are in the shape of rectangles. These geometric shapes and structures are similar to artist Bart van der Leck's Composition (Fig. 1). Liu Ye's framing and compositional devices includes simply yet powerful horizontal and vertical lines within a palette of white. The iridescent white wall in the painting, visualises the dimensionality of real space in a way akin to Vermeer's, and lays out a geometric appeal reminiscent of the Avant-Garde Suprematist artist Kasimir Malevich's White on White. The work interprets classicism from a structuralist perspective, which stimulates a more profound artistic reflection. As an adolescent, Liu spent considerable time studying the principles of design while attending design school, a practice that etched in his mind the rationality and precision needed in executing his paintings. His works, for this reason, showcase an uncompromising control in pictorial balance.
Against this background, the girl in this painting is a bold statement of just her and her alone. She wears a white blouse and a light green skirt, attire that suggest the character of a teacher and school girl simultaneously. Both of these imageries of teacher and school girl are sexual fantasies of men, and thus the painting becomes an object of the male gaze. This sense of innocence of a school girl and the moral character of a teacher is interrupted by the black whip in her hand and pointy black stilettos. The portrait is a paradox of innocence and feminine sexuality, enjoyment and punishment. The tranquility created by the pastel colors and the cherubic looking girl in plain clothes contradicts items of fetish sexual fantasies. She becomes an object of fetish, evocative of Surrealist artist Meret Oppenheim's Le D?jeuner en fourrure (Breakfast in Fur) (Fig. 2).
The title Who is afraid of Madame L? suggests an aggressive pictorial storyline, however, the girl's posture cannot look more innocent and proper. The only indication of aggressiveness is the whip, a highly sexualized tool of punishment. This contrast of asexual and sexual imageries perplexes and disturbs, arousing our curiosity of sexual fetishes and taboo. One is also not quite sure what is going to happen next or what the intention of the girl is, allowing space for the viewer to contemplate its complexity and to project their own fantasies. This kind of visual riddle is what Liu Ye excels at. This is precisely the artist's intention "It is impossible for me to reveal my secrets." This sense of mystery is part of the continuous appeal of his art. With all of the artist's own unique compositional devices, aesthetic qualities and stylistic characteristics, Who is afraid of Madame L? is quintessentially a Liu Ye painting.
Women are prominent features in Liu Ye's artistic output. His heroines seek to seduce with their delicate limbs and baby doll features. Indeed, the artist once said 'Art has seduced me. At the same time, I have used art as a tool of seduction.' The painting Who is Afraid of Madame L? (Lot 32) is an example of this seductiveness. A young girl with almond shaped eyes beguiles us with her enigmatic expression and docile gentleness. Liu Ye's penchant for depicting adolescent girls is due to the fleetingness of innocence. He strives to capture a time when she is still unaware that beauty fades. Also, it is a kind of self-revelation on the artist's part. The artist confesses that "every painting is a self-portraitK the little girls, therefore, are me, but more beautiful."
The figure's pencil-thin figure stands amidst a plain white background. The artist interprets the human figure with geometric forms: the roundness of the head is in the shape of a circle, while the body and the whip form the shape of a triangle, and the legs are in the shape of rectangles. These geometric shapes and structures are similar to artist Bart van der Leck's Composition (Fig. 1). Liu Ye's framing and compositional devices includes simply yet powerful horizontal and vertical lines within a palette of white. The iridescent white wall in the painting, visualises the dimensionality of real space in a way akin to Vermeer's, and lays out a geometric appeal reminiscent of the Avant-Garde Suprematist artist Kasimir Malevich's White on White. The work interprets classicism from a structuralist perspective, which stimulates a more profound artistic reflection. As an adolescent, Liu spent considerable time studying the principles of design while attending design school, a practice that etched in his mind the rationality and precision needed in executing his paintings. His works, for this reason, showcase an uncompromising control in pictorial balance.
Against this background, the girl in this painting is a bold statement of just her and her alone. She wears a white blouse and a light green skirt, attire that suggest the character of a teacher and school girl simultaneously. Both of these imageries of teacher and school girl are sexual fantasies of men, and thus the painting becomes an object of the male gaze. This sense of innocence of a school girl and the moral character of a teacher is interrupted by the black whip in her hand and pointy black stilettos. The portrait is a paradox of innocence and feminine sexuality, enjoyment and punishment. The tranquility created by the pastel colors and the cherubic looking girl in plain clothes contradicts items of fetish sexual fantasies. She becomes an object of fetish, evocative of Surrealist artist Meret Oppenheim's Le D?jeuner en fourrure (Breakfast in Fur) (Fig. 2).
The title Who is afraid of Madame L? suggests an aggressive pictorial storyline, however, the girl's posture cannot look more innocent and proper. The only indication of aggressiveness is the whip, a highly sexualized tool of punishment. This contrast of asexual and sexual imageries perplexes and disturbs, arousing our curiosity of sexual fetishes and taboo. One is also not quite sure what is going to happen next or what the intention of the girl is, allowing space for the viewer to contemplate its complexity and to project their own fantasies. This kind of visual riddle is what Liu Ye excels at. This is precisely the artist's intention "It is impossible for me to reveal my secrets." This sense of mystery is part of the continuous appeal of his art. With all of the artist's own unique compositional devices, aesthetic qualities and stylistic characteristics, Who is afraid of Madame L? is quintessentially a Liu Ye painting.