I think Lu Liang is supposed to be the painting of the unsuccessful, because I always smell an introspective and depressive breath when I stand in front of his work. His painting process is not smooth but entangled, he always changes it when it is about to be finished. Although he heavily invests in the preparation stage, he always changes it in the process of painting, so that his paintings have a lingering charm, rather than the slippery sense of mass production.

Excerpts from Chen Wenji: The Unsuccessful can also become a Kind of Power –Resolution of Lu Liang’s Painting Behavior

Lu Liang creates a kind of brand-new contemporary landscape: the corner of daily life contains a thrilling mental tension; in the silent screen, there are many strong thoughts and impulses secretly surging; including both the introspective body temperature and the review and question towards the external.

Excerpts from Song Xiaoxia: Landmark, the Life Corner Illuminated by Lu Liang

The artist’s creations are based on the entanglement, trouble and confusion of the conscience of the intellectuals, explaining that he is closely linked with the era, rather than only relying on the image production and technologies based on art categorization.

Excerpts from Zhuang Bowu:Dislocation of the Daily Life - Lu Liang’s Artistic Practice of Modernity

Lu Liang’s works, refuse to contain the sweet vulgar vanity, so obviously run in the opposite direction to the classical style that is popular in the market. Most of his paintings take men asmodels of his paintings, using the images of rural migrant farmers immersed in daily life, and the images are often shrouded by a dignified dark hue. The contents are Chinese traditional fables that are hardly known by people today, filled with the breath of philosophical speculation.

Excerpts from Li Xu: Urban Fables of a Classicist– On Lu Liang’s Art

Borrowing the Western realistic language to tell the story of China, the use of the ancient fables to reflect modern reality, Lu Liang uses his own realistic style to watch all things around them, paying attention to the shining stars in the sky of Chinese art and he is also a star, when you look at his painting, you perhaps also stop and stand in front of it, to listen to the stories of the past, perhaps it is obscure and deep, the spectators are allowed to judge it, it is Lu Liang – new realistic allegory paintings by the man born in the 1970s.

Excerpts from Lu Liang: New Realistic Allegory Paintings by the Man Born in the 1970s

All things make a man nervous, in contemporary society, the existence, the identity, even if one is a professor, or he has a house, he doesn’t have a sense of security, he feels food is not safe all the time, there is a feeling of uncertainty. This suddenly moves me, including the coal warehouse that attracted me to take a group of photos, it calls me to express myself and I can personally feel it every minute. These paintings are filled with desolate feelings and anxiety, and they are like movie scenes, which are so big that the viewer is worried.

Excerpts from Wang Chunchen: With the Outside World – Interview with Lu Liang

In order to objectively reflect the era that I live in, I have make a sacrifice and give up all the subjective judgments, to give up the exaggerated expressive brushstrokes - although I am very good, giving upcheap and easy effects, meanwhile I constantly prevent myself repeating techniques to passively slide into a similar feeling and experience, and I attempt to absorb the new things to break through current existing things.

Excerpts from Wang Meng: Dialogue with Lu Liang about “Image Studio”

The students retained to teach in the school after graduation, are specially cultivated in a specific environment, so they receive improved conditions compared with the teachers from local colleges and universities or the independent artists. We must be stricter with ourselves, no matter what our study is like or personal character, it is necessary to make greater demands on ourselves and more energetic in art, to avoid being scholarly, searching for breakthroughs, pursuing deep cultural connotations.

Excerpts from Holdout on the Realistic Road –Interview with Lu Liang (Shaping - Works by Teachers of the School of Plastic Arts in CAFA series of interviews)

I was inspired by reading Zhuangzi to use modern characters and scenes to weave ancient fables, and I take classical realistic skills as the expressive means, I was guided to begin the creation of Zhuangzi’s fables series in 2004, gradually establishing basic personal features such as light, narrative logic, and continuously accumulated experiences in the control of technology and image.

Ecerpts from Lu Liang: I Say and I Draw – Excerpts from the Notes

The so-called “art history” is actually one of the selected faces of the era, a girl that is “submissively dressed” is hidden behind, even if Idon’t want to be a history painter, I should continually study history, paying close attention to the real world where we live, and get inspiration and themes from life. Because the chaotic and complex surfaces attached to reality are only able to be combed through when corresponding with the history.

Excerpts from Lu Liang: Teaching Idea of the 3rd Studio of the Department of Oil Painting, CAFA

About the artist

Lu Liang was born in 1975 in Shanghai, China. He went to Beijing to pursue his artistic training in the Department of Murals in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and graduated with BA and MA degrees in 1999 and 2005 respectively. Lu currently teaches at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Solo Exhibitions

2014 “Lu Liang Solo Exhibition”, ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan

2007 “Night Wanderer”, CREEK ART, Beijing, China

2003 “Fabricated Space”, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

1998 “All About Xiao Jing’s Living”, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

Group Exhibitions

2015 “The Temperature of History: CAFA and Chinese Representational Oil Paintings”, China Art Museum, Shanghai; the Ancestral Temple Art Gallery, Beijing, China

2015 “Relay – Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of Anti-Japanese War”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2015 “Sino-Indonesian Artists Exchanging Exhibition”, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China; Indonesia

2014 “Choice: Central Academy of Fine Arts Annual Fine Arts Nomination Exhibition", CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2014 “Super Landscape”, Shijiazhuang Art Museum, Hebei, China

2014 “The Second China Invitational Exhibition of Realism Oil Painting”, Shenzhen, China

2013 “From Beijing”, New York Academy of Art, New York, USA

2013 “Academy: Exhibition of Works of 10 Young Teachers from Central Academy of Fine Arts”, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

2013 “Teachers’ Work of Central Academy of Fine Arts 2013”, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2012 “IN TIME: 2012 Chinese Oil Painting Biennale”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2012 “Art Classics: China National Academy of Painting Exhibition”, SunshineArt Museum, Beijing, China

2012 Well-Known Painters Nominated Exhibition, Zhuzhong Art Museum, Beijing, China

2012 “Not Only Paper – Sino-Japanese Works on Paper Invited Exhibition”, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2011 “10 Years – Works Exhibition of the Teachers of the Department of Fundamental Education for Plastic Arts”, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2011 “Academy: Exhibition of Works of 8 Young Teachers from Central Academy of Fine Arts”, Baiyaxuan 798, Beijing, China

2011 “Oriental Morning – Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the China National Academy of Painting, China National Academy of Painting, Beijing, China

2011 “The 4th National Fine Arts Exhibition for Young Artists”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2010 “Shaping - Works by Teachers of the School of Plastic Arts in CAFA, CAFA Art Museum,Beijing, China

2010 “Oil Painting and Contemporary Society: Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2010 “Power of Academy – Works by Teachers of the School of Plastic Arts in CAFA”, Times Art Museum, Guangzhou, China

2009“60 Years of Drawing: Central Academy of Fine Arts", CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2008 “The 3rd Beijing International Art Biennale”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2008 “Future Sky: Chinese Contemporary Young Artists Works Selection Exhibition",Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

2008 “National Exhibition on Painting from Nature”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2008 “Convergent Paths: a Joint Exhibition by Professors of CAFA, Chan-Liu Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2007 “Fusion and Creation”, Capital Museum, Beijing, China

2007 “The 1st Painting from Natural Biennial”, Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy ofFine Arts, Guangzhou, China

2007 “Academy Exhibition Series – the Central Academy of Fine Arts", C5 Art Centre, Beijing, China

2006 “Grand Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2005 “The Displacement of Face”, Aurora Gallery, Beijing, China

2005 “Colleagues and Fellow – A Group Exhibition of the Teachers of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts”, the exhibition hall of CAFA, Beijing, China

2004 “Shanghai Youth Art Exhibition”, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2004 “The 10th National Art Exhibition”, Guangzhou Art Museum, Guangzhou, China

Awards

2005 First Prize of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Graduation Exhibition

2005 First Prize of Wang Jialian Oil Painting Scholarship

1999 First Prize of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Graduation Exhibition

Courtesy of the artist, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.