The first time I saw Liu Jiayu's exhibition was on June 1st, 2020. The exhibition room is a huge and empty place in Shunyi, Beijing, and it was curated by his friend Zhang Ji. He drew a poster with his self-portrait in a dress, with the words "Princess Sweetheart not you or me" written in pink, and sent it to WeChat Moments, calling a few friends, and it was done.
The exhibition space used to be a panel furniture factory, hundreds of square meters without any pillars to interfere with the sight，like an open mouth. Painting will be easily engulfed by the space. Liu Jiayu hang on the paintings in different height, or just stay beside the wall. It is said that when Basquiat made his first exhibition, he also set up in this way. Graffiti also can be seen on Liu Jiayu’s acrylic paintings, gradually lighten from a dark background, while this oil painting method have commonly used by Italians during the Renaissance, and referred to "classical". His paintings are loosely structured, that images and colors are in a stalemate relationship, involving each other, regardless of priority. His paintings are always flowing, boiling, especially cheerful, and full of nervous panic, pain and suspicion. The paintings wonderfully match with the abandoned factories, no conflict with each other, but also maintained their own characteristics. Exhibition space and art are all at ease.
The new exhibition "The Paints are Shortening" opened in Shunde, and I guess I can't go there. Originally, he wanted to show the paintings in Shanghai, but now change to the paintings which stored in Beijing. Fortunately, I have seen them all and try to say something. It would be better to watch the paintings in person.
Because the photos of the paintings which in the ultra-high-definition scans of the PDF can't be compared to taking a car to a place that has never been before, and seeing some things that have not been seen before in a cloudy afternoon. Painting is the artist facing the void, initiating a dance-like action. When the paintings are left, the dance are finished and hidden, we still can guess his behavior through the traces on the canvas.
The plane displayed on the screen is composed of pixels, which cannot record the rapid changes during operation. Liu Jiayu expresses strong intentions when painting. I remember his work Cake, the curved candles lit and swayed over five pink cakes. The deformed cake seems to float in the chaotic background, and it seems to be squeezed by the chaos. With floating and squeezing, the spectator's eyes can echo his disappearing dance, and see the disappearance of that lively dance.
The Children's Day the year before last, there are few audiences in the exhibition. I was impressed by Liu Jiayu’s effort and directly encounter.
Yang Zi
