Temporary exhibitions

"LIU NAN"
"China"

Coming from a family of artists who collected honors over three generations, Liu Nan succeeded in blending a millennial tradition, the assimilation of Western art and a resolutely modern technique. In its unique setting, the bar of the Hilton Brussels hosts an exhibition of his latest works.

Born in Beijing in 1958, Liu Nan belongs to a line of famous Chinese painters. His grandfather, Liu Kuiling (1885-1967), lives in a sort of communion with nature that largely feeds his inspiration as an animal painter. Animals and insects of all kinds evolve in sets of rare beauty whose minutia is a technical feat. Liu Jiyou (1918-1983), his father, follows the same path while also practicing the portrait. His compositions with subtle colors and abundant details are worth a national recognition. As for his cartoons, they possess this verve proper to the great masters of the genre.

With this prestigious heritage, Liu Nan has been practicing drawing and painting since he was a child. Installed in Belgium for a few years, he has rubbed himself with the art of our regions while retaining a precious baggage of tradition and oriental inspiration. From this fusion of cultures is born a painting that mixes, within the same composition, resolutely figurative elements and abstract backgrounds. It emanates an atmosphere out of time, between image and symbol. The subjects are clearly borrowed from the past of his native country: horsemen, imperial chariots, fabulous animals stand out like so many silhouettes on an imaginary and immaterial landscape that gives pride of place to lands and golds. Like his ancestors, he made the animal the absolute master of this dreamlike universe, renouncing the naturalistic profusion to explore a more interior path. Some of his paintings are not without evoking the parietal art that sang the strength and elegance of the beast or the merit of the hunter. We find here this symbolic dimension which makes each element go far beyond the frame of the simple representation and is invested with a magic force. Liu Nan likes to highlight the subject, unless he breaks it down into several episodes that look like frescoes or decorative friezes. And then, its colors are worth the detour alone, especially lapis lazuli and deep blue highlights that are for many in the majesty of his painting.

"LEVEL 13 EUROPE Sprl"
"Gallery"
Molière Avenue 213
1050 Brussels

From Saturday, November 21 to Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturdays and Sundays from 14:00 to 19:00
and by appointment
0477/42 51 76
E.Mail: goffinpierre@yahoo.fr