Chen Liu s painting creation丨Interpret the self and be with the light

One of the watercolor creations of the "Floating Dream" series, 55x75cm, 2023

The aggressiveness of youth and the conservatism of middle age may cause the creation of painting to deviate or stagnate. I've always wanted to make my paintings more realistic, more real, and more sincere, but when I picked up the brush, it was difficult to know and act. I have tried and changed in several themes and methods of expression, but the final result has always been far from the "truth" I wanted. I realized that finding the motivation and purpose of my painting is the most important focus for me today.

Floating Like a Dream Series Watercolor Creation No. 2, 110x150cm, 2023

For a long time after graduating from university and returning to Kunming from Beijing, I experimented a lot with the methods of painting, as well as the objects and themes of painting. The artistic ambitions of the still young people are filled with rambling ideas. While desperately training and improving his painting ability, he is faced with confusion and disorder of thought. The subjects of my paintings involve fish, insects, dogs, horses, gods, people, and scenes, and there are many kinds of things. The painting media used are also varied, and the national oil water version has been painted all over again. The complicated content of the painting and the frequent switching, combining, and reconstruction made me lose my way. Slowly, with the growth of time and the accumulation of experience and thoughts, the creative mind gradually accumulates a certain energy. Thinking carefully about my true motivation for painting, I realized that it seemed that I should slow down the pace and eliminate the chaotic thoughts in my heart with frustration and distraction, so as to achieve the ideal state of freedom and freedom when creating paintings.

In Praise of the Earth, one of the watercolor creations, 130x200cm, 2022

Thought and civilization are constantly changing and evolving, involving the natural environment and social environment, of which the social environment includes all fields such as politics, economy, culture, military, religion, etc., which also provides an incomparably broad space for our creation. In a huge and complex world, to choose a creative field that suits you, you must first ask yourself about your original intention and motivation for painting. The motivation of painting lies in how to truly face one's inner needs, intuition and touch, and to perceive the core that is heavily concealed by appearances. Putting aside the style and law of painting, only by not being bound and restricted by thought can the tactile sense of thinking diverge in all directions and enter the broad and profound connotation, and the existence and realization of self-thought should be grasped. Giving up the pursuit of appearances and integrating into social life with a normal mentality has allowed me to find a way to examine and take care of my inner world.

In Praise of the Earth, Watercolor Creation No. 2, 130x200cm, 2022

Ordinary Visions" and "Praise the Earth" landscape series are created in those familiar and ordinary scenes that have been overlooked. The scenery I want to depict is no longer those majestic and majestic wonders, but I want to find inspiration in the surrounding things that carry the trajectory of my life, such as the farmland I pass by on my way to work every day, the streets I have lived in for decades, and the ordinary street trees ...... on the highwayPay attention to these neglected familiar and ordinary scenes, and find the intimate memories and wisps of concern for your own life. Everything has a necessity for its existence, and they all express the light of their own state of life in different forms, whether it is new decay, tenacity, or decadence ......I hope to find in them the thoughts that relate to me. These inconspicuous ordinary things, through my shaping at any cost, create the most simple visual feast and have an emotional interaction with the viewer.

Dedication to Youth, one of the watercolor creations, 55x75cm, 2023

The series of watercolor sketches and creations in the People series is an attempt to motivate those who relate to me. These characters include my family, friends, colleagues, and students, and it is more appropriate to call them "networks" or "circles of acquaintances" rather than "people" series. For a long time, I only used character sketching as a technical training and recording method, and this kind of sketching and creation lacked the integration and collision of emotions and thoughts. Choosing familiar characters as the objects of painting, I can also inject the stories that happened to them into the picture, and the characters in the painting are not only independent individuals, but also projections of different states of self-thought.

Floating Like a Dream series**In my chaotic daily life and work state, I refine and separate the themes of my paintings, and construct a seemingly complete but contradictory existence space through subjective narrative. The original intention of the creation is that I have introspected and reflected again and again, and it is completely a portrayal of my inner life, maybe I will never be able to find a true position and belonging for myself, it is just a kind of motivation that drives me to continue painting.

Floating Like a Dream Series Watercolor Creation No. 3, 110x150cm, 2023

Interpreting myself has been my motivation in recent years, and returning to my original state of life, career, and painting as much as possible has become a reference for my creation and perception. "With its light, with its dust" has become my concept to get rid of some glitz and noise, and "going with the flow" has allowed me to integrate more naturally into my own painting world.

(Wen Chenliu).