Liu Ye 劉野
Liu Ye (Chinese, b.1964) is part of a generation of artists that grew up during the Cultural Revolution and were visually affected by the kitsch aesthetic of propagandistic art. His political and cultural background led him to create seemingly childlike or naïve worlds full of fantasies and fairy tales; however, Ye contrasts his lighthearted style with imagery alluding to global catastrophes. After studying at the School of Arts and Crafts and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in his hometown Beijing between 1984 and 1989, Ye received a degree from University of Fine Arts in Berlin in 1994. He later attended two artist-in-residence programs at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam and the Delfina Studios in London. In recent years, Ye has developed an interest in the work of Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872–1944, particularly the modernist painter’s late period. Ye’s compositions are subsequently based on the form of the square, contrasting with the seemingly playful ethos of his works; he is interested in combining rational thought with the sensitivity and emotionality of fairy tales, a synthesis further understood as link between Western and Eastern philosophy. His work has received great acclaim at several international exhibitions; including the 7th Shanghai Biennale in 2008 and the exhibition China – Facing Reality at the Museum for Modern Art in Vienna. Ye currently lives and works in Beijing.
1964 Born in Beijing, China
1984 Graduated from School of Arts & Crafts, Beijing, China
1989 Graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
1994 MFA, Hochschule der Kunst Berlin, Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany
■ Solo Exhibitions
2018 Liu Ye: Storytelling, Prada Rong Zhai, Shanghai2016
Liu Ye Selected Exhibitions in 2016:
Mondriaan & Liu Ye, Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, The Netherlands 2014
Liu Ye Selected Exhibitions in 2014:
Liu Ye: Red & Blue, My Humble House Art Gallery, Taipei 2009
Liu Ye: Leave Me in the Dark – Sperone Westwater, New York, USA
2007 Liu Ye – Solo Exhibition, Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
Chinese Window, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
2006 Temptations, Sperone Westwater, New York, USA
2005 Project room / Tomio Koyama Gallery , Tokyo, Japan
2004 Red Yellow Blue, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2003 Red Yellow Blue, Schoeni Art Gallery, Beijing, China
2001 Fellini, A Guardsman, Mondrian, The Pope and My Girlfriend, Chinese Contemporary
Gallery, London, England
2000 Galerie Lococo Mulder, Berlin, Germany
1997 Ming Jing Di Gallery Beijing, China
1995 Gallery Taube Berlin, Germany
Gallery Taube Berlin, Germany
■ Selected Group Exhibitions
2018 Hello World. Revising a Collection, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
Lust der Täuschung. Von antiker Kunst zur Virtual Reality, Kunsthalle der Hypo-
Kulturstiftung München, Munich
2017 Liu Ye Selected Exhibitions in 2017:Viva Arte Viva, Central Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale,
Venice
2016 Breaking through to the Actual Via the Imagination, Long Museum, Shanghai
Our Painting, Yang Art Museum, Beijing
Too Loud A Solitude: Stalkers of Chinese Contemporary Art, Hive Center for Contemporary
Art, Beijing
2015 Liu Ye Selected Exhibitions in 2015:
The Boundaries of Order, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Signs/Words, Sperone Westwater, New York
The World in 2015, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
2014 3rd Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts: Re-modernization, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan,
China
The 4th International Exhibition of Pan-Asian Collectors – Shanghai, Art021, Shanghai
1199 People: Collection from Long Museum, Long Museum, Shanghai
1960, Springs Center of Art, Beijing
Das Obere des Körpers – Die Büste in der Kunst des 21. Jahrhunderts, Galerie Frank Schlag &
Cie, Essen, Germany
Focus Beijing: De Heus-Zomer Collection, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing [itinerary: Witte de
With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam]
The Immortal Scenery: An Interpretation as the Common Destination of Western and Eastern
Aesthetics, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
The Moment, 5art Space, Guangzhou, China
Myth/History: Yuz Collection of Contemporary Art, Yuz Museum, Shanghai
Pale Fire: Revising Boundaries, M Woods, Beijing
Re-View: Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund, Long Museum, Shanghai
2012 Modern@MoDeng, Gallery Hotel, Beijing, China
Lightness, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Bamboo Bamboo Broadway, Sperone Westwater, New York, USA
Art for the Masses, Red Star Gallery, Beijing, China
In Time – 2012 Chinese Oil Painting Biennale, The National Art Museum of China, Beijing,
China
Faces, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2011 10th Anniversary of Soka Art Beijing, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China
Print-Concept: The Second Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Prints, Today Art
Museum, Beijing, China
Portraits, Eastation Gallery, Beijing, China
Exhibition of Fine Art Artist Prints, S.O Art Space, Shanghai, China
China Contemporary Prints Exhibition, M-Space, Shanghai, China
2010 China. Real? – ArtChina Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
Fabrique en Chine – Chinese Artists Group Exhibition – Beyond Art Space, Beijing, China
Think Pink – Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach, USA
Restoration: Contemporary Collotype Print Exhibition (group) – Millenium Gallery, Beijing,
China
Clouds: Power of Asian Contemporary Art – Soka Art Center, Beijing, China
Passion Fruits Picked from the Olbright Collection – Me Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany
2009 In the Mood for Paper, Art Gallery, Beijing
Facing China – Ystads Konstmuseum, Ystad, Sweden
Normality: 2009 Art Works Show – Fine Arts Literature Art Center, Wuhan, China
Related to the Context: Contemporary Painting Exhibition – Found Museum, Beijing, China
2008 China macht Druck. Zeitgenössische Chinesische Druckgrafik, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim
– Bissingen
Crouching Paper, Hidden Dragon – Works on Paper, F2 Gallery, Beijing
China Macht Druck, Stadtische Galerie, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany
2007 RE-collection – A Retrospective Look at 15 years of Art and Vision, Schoeni Art Gallery,
Hong Kong
Time Difference, Initial Access Frank Cohen Collection, Wolverhampton, UK
2006 Mahjong Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg collection, Hamburger Kunsthalle,
Hamburg, Germany
The First Chinese Contemporary Arts Annual Exhibition, China Millennium Monument Art
Museum, Beijing, China
2005 Liu Ye / Kaneda Shoich, Gallery Frank Schlag & Cie. GmbH, Essen, Germany
Vehicle & Mirror, Beijing New Art Projects, Beijing, China
A Cartoon, Top Space, Beijing, China
Mahjong Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern,
Switzerland
2004 Fiction @ Love, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
Dreaming of the Dragon’s nation, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Stone Face, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2003 Images of Women VIII, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
Left Hand, Right Hand, 798 Space Art & Culture Co. Ltd., Beijing, China
A Bulimic Rhapsody, Tongdao Studio of 798 Factory, Beijing, China
ChinArt, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary
ChinArt, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy
Lifetime, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China
2002 Poster design of Contemporary Artists, Red Gate Gallery Beijing, China
The Beauty of Screen, Today Gallery, Beijing, Chi
aParis-Pekin, Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, France
ChinArt, Museum Kuppersmuehle fur Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany
Small Panels Show, Schoeni Art Museum, Beijing, China
The First Guanghouw Trienal, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China
Beijing Inaugural Exhibition, Schoeni Art Gallery III, Beijing, China
Chinese Contemporary Art, Reykjavic Art Museum, Iceland
Boys from Beijing, Chinese Contemporary Ltd., London, England
2001 The First Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu, China
Chinese Mythology, Yidian Gallery, Shanghai, China
First impression, Yibo Gallery, Shanghai, China
Transparence / Opacity, De Markten, Brussels, Belgium
Undo, Aura gallery, Shanghai, China
Graphix & Comix in China, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2000 A Selection From Collection, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Liu Ye and Mao Yan, Mao Yan, Chinese Contemporary London, England
1999 Liberation, Chinese Contemporary London, England
The 40th, China Art Gallery Berlin, Germany
1998 It’s Me! — A Profile of Chinese Contemporary Art in the 90s, traveled Beijing, China
From Behind the Bamboo Curtain, LUMC Gallery Leiden
Chinese Invitational Exhibition, Liu Haisu Gallery Shanghai
Mondrian in China, Art Gallery of the International Palace in Beijing, China
1997 Made in China, Gallery Serieuse Zaken Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1995 New Anecdotes of Social Talk, Art Gallery of International Palace, Beijing, China
1992 FBK Art Exhibition, Berlin, Germany
1988 Silk Road, China Art Gallery, Beijing, China