UCCA Edge to open solo exhibition 'Your Friends' by Liu Xiaodong

3 August 2021

From 8 August 2021, the UCCA Edge in Shanghai opens its first exhibition 'Liu Xiaodong: Your Friends', on view until 10 October. Emerging in the 1990s and celebrated for turning the previously heroic lens and tools of oil painting onto characters and subjectivities at all levels of society, this most recent series sees Xiaodong depict the subjects closest to him: his immediate family and his dearest artistic interlocutors.

Bringing together new works created in the months following Liu’s return from an extended stay in New York during the early stages of the pandemic and previous works chosen for their resonance within this context, the presentation shows an artist bringing the same sensitivity and acuity to bear on his own surroundings that he has previously directed towards others. In doing so, he invites us to think about the ties that bind us to our moment and to each other.

The 'Your Friends' series is exhibited in the 3/F and 4/F galleries, and is complimented by preparatory materials including sketches and journals, as well as a documentary film by director Yang Bo. On 2/F, a selection of earlier works elaborates the connections between affect, circumstance, and portraiture that run throughout his work, as well as works created from the artist’s travel around the world in recent years.

Find further information here.

Image: Liu Xiaodong, Ning Dai in Person Having a Laugh (2021), Oil on canvas © the artist.