For Liu, painting inevitably intermingles with aspects of his own life, becoming an extension of his daily activities; he is inspired and nurtured by the trivial and apparently unimportant "non-events" that populate his daily routine. One series of small-format paintings,Female Models (2012), focuses on female nudes resembling. In this petite body of work, Liu juxtaposes real and fictional elements, creating compositions suspended in a non-time and non-space, where the female body, sometimes completely naked and sometimes covered with a blanket, is set against an almost aseptic environment.

What is so striking about Liu Xiaohui’s works is the apparent normality that they imply, the fact that the scenes portrayed may be so easily overlooked in everyday life, and the extremely natural, almost dusty and non-sensational color palette that is employed by the artist.

Image: © Liu Xiaohui, Eastation Gallery