Fan Di'an

in contemporary art circles, liu Qinghe is with those who are both talented and hardworking. For more than 20 years he has kept pushing himself to a higher level despite of all the progresses and successes. such an endeavor is reflected in his experimental exploration of the language of ink and the extension inside the art concept.

in short, liu has worked for the possibility of the language of ink under a contemporary background.  it requires a stand of realism and a manner and angle of such experience. The feature of liu is his subtle attitude towards the Chinese reality of the urbanization. he keeps himself close to this reality and observes many concrete events and individuals in daily life. But at the same time a distance is always kept. This has allows liu to come back to his art when he expresses the experimental feelings. The figures and scenes in his works reflect a combination of accidental and inevitable elements, therefore a two-in-one relationship of individual stage and collective destiny is accurately expressed.

The latest series of works with the name of “the other Bank” typically reflects his state in art world.  i believe the other bank in fact expresses a distance. he has always kept a distance to a lot of things-including those realities that have been known to all, the existent artistic skills and something he longs for. such a distance could be hardly defined by a certain number. it is a mental or ideal distance, an observation and feeling in distance. Therefore various figures in his works have gained a “normal state” and an “abnormal state” of a daily life.

liu has also kept a distance with the study of the language of ink-a distance to the traditional plastic art that is educated in school, and outer boundary of untraditional ink painting. he manipulates ink painting as a spiritual antenna. he applies the conventional skills with a differentprocedure. he perceptually and sharply heads to the experimental field.  ink is a sensitive language by him.  it  becomes an expression for the reality that liu has been irritated.