Liu Xiaodong
2020.2.10
I stand in Eagle Pass golf court, the boundary river between Mexico and America is at my side. One year ago, I was on the opposite shore, standing next to a man with "Made in Mexico" tattooed on his head I saw America on the opposite shore, I saw this very golf court.
Sitting in Tom's yard, I look around and at the almost finished painting. I feel reluctant (to part with it). I've grown familiar with every plant and tree here because I've fondled them with my brush countless times.
I've been painting this body of work for more than a year now. No matter what meaning this project bears in today's uncertain world, painting is still about fondling. I feel that the world becomes docile once fondled by the brush; the world before me, harsh and alien, has become gentle after painting it, and it has also become much smaller.
In 2003 during SARS I was in China. The air was still, and the cities were empty. I painted the “Three Gorges” series.
This year the Novel Coronavirus is sweeping across China, it’s the same situation, and because it just so happens that I made a commitment one year ago, I left China and painted “Tom’s family” in America.
17 years later, two major epidemics still stand in front of me like twin brothers. The time in between seems to have been erased. It’s difficult to tell them apart immediately.
I'm very lucky, I can fondle this uncertain world with my brush and I don't want to leave the plants and trees I have painted.
2020.3.27
In just over a month, Coronavirus has swept through America. Almost all the flights back to China have been canceled. I took shelter in my tiny New York apartment, fortunately, it has a balcony. What can I do? To tell the truth, I cannot do anything. Every day the minute I open my eyes I watch the news, and then the phone stays in my hands until I go to bed.
How has the world come to this point?
The wall on the border between America and Mexico was built to prevent refugees from crossing, but now it’s the Mexicans that want to close down and stop Americans from crossing their border.
Sino-U.S. relations are very complicated, politics and economy directly affect people’s real life. The concept of globalization is being profoundly questioned. We’ve been living in a globalized system for a very long time, the changes in each region affect changes in other regions, they even affect each person’s mood. What kind of future will it be if globalization collapses and each country acts on its own and exchanges come to a standstill?
Standing on my balcony, I see empty New York and it looks a lot like Beijing. My imagination runs wild till there’s no space left for imagination. The world is more theatrical, more absurd than I ever imagined.
But then on second thought, the world is going to be just fine.
Mountains and River, 2019, Oil on canvas 300 × 250 cm / 118 1/8 × 98 1/2 inches
Policemen in the Park, 2019 Oil on canvas , 250 × 300 cm / 98 1/2 × 118 inches
Tom, his Family, and his Friends, 2020 Oil on canvas, 250 x 300 cm / 118 x 98 1/2 inches
Boundary River, 2019 Oil on canvas, 250 × 300 cm / 98 1/2 × 118 1/8 inches
Liu Xiaodong
All images courtesy the artist and Massimo De Carlo, Milan/London/Hong Kong