
From June 28, 2022, 14:00 to July 5, 2022, 14:00, ShanghART Gallery will present Liu Weijian’s online observation project “Using Painting as Mirror”. The exhibition will present some of Liu Weijian’s latest works from 2021 to early 2022. In this exhibition, the concept of the “Mirror Space” is used as the entry point, and the perspective of the “third pair of eyes” is used to see Liu Weijian’s works as a mapping of the objective world, thus reflecting the shape of the “City”.
Under Liu Weijian’s paintings, the city’s roads, the vehicles passing by, and the waves on the lake are painted in the same cold style as usual, and through deep and cold brushstrokes, the expression of current events and emotions, together with the third pair of eyes, advances with the times in retrospect and reflection. In this observation, we take the perspective of “mirror space” to extrapolate, combining suggestive and viewing perspectives, layering on the other side of the mirror to interpret the work and the creator behind it. Artist Liu Weijian uses a rich variety of perspectives to map out the shape of the urban world in his own eyes. Look at the expression and embodiment of objects in Liu Weijian’s pictures. The objects in his works are all things that are often found in life, such as chairs, food, water pipes, and ornaments. Liu Weijian mastered the use of purple and gray, and under the background tone that looks similar, he has different emotional extensions and trusts, “Multum in parvo”, and tracing the transformation from the physical state to the mental state. For the expression of the environment. Re-creation of the real world, representation of the topic suggestiveness, Liu Weijian has long had a set of familiar directions and rules that he has forged. The deep and severe style of depiction often coexists with the scenery, whether it is the sun in the sky, the street lights at night, the neon on the road, or the ripples on the lake as if one can always see the end. The calm yet powerful images always give the viewer a desire for another independent interpretation.
With three-time Creation, Liu Weijian as the creator has completed the casting of the Mirror Space of the city, while the audience, as the third pair of eyes viewing the work, maybe the extension of feelings and may also produce a narrative tacit understanding. In the end, the audience and the artist co-create and interpret in a sense.
Liu Weijian has defined his cold and recondite way of ‘social narration’ through his early works: he wears a cold neutral ‘image’ mask and takes it as the root of his ‘conceptual painting’. With his cold touch and melancholy feelings, Liu Weijian’s work deals with many of the current issues he and his contemporaries think about daily and creates a feeling of constant movement and of un-finished business.




When ShanghArt Gallery opened its doors in Shanghai in 1996, it was one of the first contemporary art galleries in China. Today, the gallery operates from two spaces in the city (West Bund and Putuo District), with additional locations in Beijing and Singapore.
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