Untitled

During 1997 to 1998, Liu Wei created a series of works integrating paper and hand-crafted wooden frames. Untitled (Lot 520) is a very rare piece on carved wooden frame. Liu Wei mobilizes various media such as watercolour, oil, brush and pen, conveying highly complex information on the limited space of the painting, just as the way the graffiti does. Liu Wei said: "Artworks must be readable." He taps into the pungently contrasting relationship inherent in the overall scheme of the painting, highlighting the overarching frame of the narrative while offering more interpretive possibilities with background description.

In the work, the person holding a little pig appears joyful. Liu Wei seems to analogise the human desire to a pig, contending that the true colour of human nature will lay bare when confronted with the lures of material indulgence. Fascinated with carving, Liu Wei himself carved the detached hands and feet onto the frame. The slightly battered paper stands in sharp contrast with the magnificent wooden frame. The painting is contained in a frame that is as sophisticated as an installation piece, with the hand prints evoking thousand-handed Bodhisattva. According to Buddhist teachings, thousand-handed Bodhisattva possesses the power to relieve mortals from the mundane sufferings. One might wonder if the seemingly insatiable greed intrinsic to human nature could be redeemed by the religious conviction.