Considered one of the most appealing emerging artists in Beijing today, Liu Jie is exhibiting her work in Europefor the first time.

The 15 works on exhibition are playful self-portraits of the artist herself in a style suggestive of the daydreams of a young girl. They are childish fantasies from an innocent heart whose love of bright colours and whimsical sense of form create a distinctive world within each work that is unique to the artist and always pleasing to the observer. They are paintings that lift the heart, please the eye and make you smile.

The more we look into Liu Jie’s world of cartoon-like characters and strikingly juxtaposed colours, the more conscious we become that our wonder is reflected in the wide-eyed gaze of the artist herself, peering back at us from the canvas, observing our world with a childish innocence, a coquettish curiosity, perhaps even a sense of bewilderment at what she sees or, possibly, at being the object of such interest herself.

Free of external reference or artifice, it is this personal communication between the artist and viewer that makes Liu Jie’s work so engaging, as we come to appreciate its different moods and feelings and feel affection for it and its creator.

Liu Jie says:  “My painting is all about my inner heart and is created from subtle, delicate emotion and passion. I think a good artist should bring the enjoyment of true feeling to a viewer – whether it be joy, sorrow, hardship or shock. To take a viewer into one’s own small world by communicating with them from the heart and by delivering affection with each particular picture….That is the marvellous thing. I am a simple person, so is my painting.  I love beautiful colours and I fuse them in my painting with emotion and affection to create work in which I hope people can find a piece of long-lost childish innocence. I welcome more of you to my small world; let us enjoy, relax and by happy together”.

The innocence of Liu Jie’s work feels a relief from the recent generation of Contemporary Chinese Artists primarily concerned with the political and social significance of their art as China opens to the world.  And, in truth, we may find that her pure, personal voice, spoken from the heart, represents a new direction for young artists in China, as yet unknown in the West.