Liu Haichen

Liu Haichen (b.1988), born in Hebei, China, currently lives and works in Chongqing and Beijing. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) with a master’s degree in 2015, since when he has been teaching at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.  

Liu takes life experience as the source of his creation and conveys the landscapes of his thoughts and spirits by integrating cursive and illusionistic painting techniques. His magnificent and fantastic natural landscapes present a strong sense of solitude, emphasizing the relentlessness of nature and the insignificance of humans, ushering the viewers to reflect on their existential conditions in the universe. At the same time, this sense of solitude also points to freedom, suggesting that it’s in that space that people regain the right to reshape their lives. The unpredictable changing atmosphere in his paintings symbolizes the ever-changing reality, which aligns with the existential sense of the unforeseeable in the human condition. The scenes of people wandering, exploring, and hunting in the fantastic landscapes are conceived of transcendent presence, serving as analogies for undoing the constraints of the external value system but searching for their own value and meaning in life.

Liu’s recent solo exhibitions include: Whosoever Is Delighted in Solitude Is Either a Wild Beast or a God (Star Gallery, Beijing, 2023)；16:9 Endless Wind and Cloud (Star Gallery, Beijing,2021); A Lifelong Moment—Paintings of Liu Haichen (Star Gallery, Beijing, 2018) ; Hidden Place—Liu Haichen’s Solo Exhibition (Zhi Art Space, Chongqing, 2018); Flash Point—Liu Haichen’s Solo Exhibition (Vermilion Art, Sydney, 2017), etc. His recent important group exhibitions include: Weltanschauung (Guangdong Contemporary Art Center, Guangzhou, 2023); THE AXIS—The Artistic Revolution from the Millennium (Shanxi Contemporary Art Museum, Taiyuan, 2023); THE JOLT OF IMAGE—New Paintings by Chinese Millennials (Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu, 2022), etc. His works have been collected by the White Rabbit Collection in Sydney, Taikang Art Foundation, CAFA Art Museum,  Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Today Art Museum, YUAN Art Museum and other institutions.