Liu Ye

In his deeply meditative paintings, Beijing-born painter Liu Ye (b. 1964) investigates the intersections of history and representation through a distinct vocabulary that transcends time and place, evoking conceptual and emotional registers of meaning. Drawing on both his childhood memories and his early education in Europe, his carefully balanced and lushly rendered works encompass a diverse range of aesthetic and cultural sources.

Liu studied mural painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and industrial design at the School of Arts & Crafts, both in Beijing, before attending the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. The artist spent six years living and studying in Europe, which included a six-month-long residency in 1998 at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. The artist’s first exhibition with David Zwirner, Liu Ye: The Book and the Flower, was on view in 2020 at the gallery’s East 69th Street location in New York. In 2023, his work was on view at David Zwirner, London, in the solo presentation Liu Ye: Naive and Sentimental Painting.

In 2021, Liu Ye: Pierre Menard was on view at the New Century Art Foundation, Beijing. Liu Ye: Storytelling opened at Prada Rong Zhai, Shanghai, in 2018, and traveled to Fondazione Prada, Milan, where it was on view in 2020. Other solo museum presentations include shows at Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, the Netherlands (2016); and Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland (2007).

In 2017, Liu’s work was included in the 57th Venice Biennale as part of Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel, director of the biennale and chief curator at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Liu’s work has also been featured in significant international group exhibitions, including Common Ground: UCCA 15th Anniversary Patrons Collection Exhibition, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2022); Hello World: Revising a Collection, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2018); The World in 2015, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); Focus Beijing: De Heus-Zomer Collection, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2014); Re-View: Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund, Long Museum, Shanghai (2014); In Time, 5th Chinese Oil Painting Biennale, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2012); Future Pass: From Asia to the World, 54th Venice Biennale (2011; traveled to Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung; and Today Art Museum, Beijing); Chinamania, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark (2009); and Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley (2008; traveled to Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts).

Work by Liu is held in numerous public collections, including the Long Museum, Shanghai; M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong; Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai; Shanghai Art Museum; Today Art Museum, Beijing; and Yuz Museum, Shanghai. Liu lives and works in Beijing.