Welcome!
Many people - in fact, most people - when buying any art, have questions about the artist and his or her creations. Mr. Liu would like to provide for you some answers to the most commonly asked questions about his original artwork, his career and his life, so you can have a better understanding his ink and watercolor creations.
First, a bit about Mr. Liu's life and study.
Mr. Liu was born in 1957 in Liaoning Province, China. He first began to "play" with art when he was about 5 years old, tracing Hanzi (Chinese characters), animal pictures and pictures of people from the local newspaper. After a year or so, Mr. Liu stopped tracing and began copying - looking at the newspaper and writing or drawing with a brush on separate pieces of paper.
His parents and other adults in his life gave him praise and encouragement and that, of course, made him feel happy and so he continued so that he could receive more praise and encouragement.
After Mr. Liu began elementary school, his parents introduced him as a prospective student to his uncle - Mr. Bai Hai now a quite famous ink and watercolor painter in China. Mr. Bai agreed and that began what developed into an over two decade journey of exploration, research and development of Mr. Liu's unique style of Chinese Brush Watercolors.
After Mr. Liu graduated from high school, his teacher decided to introduce Mr. Liu to "his" teacher - Mr. Wen Du Jing (温读耕). Mr. Wen is today considered one of the most prominent painters in China and his brush watercolor paintings of women are considered among the most beautiful ever painted.
Mr. Liu's teacher did this because at that time, there was little or no possibility that Mr. Liu would be able to attend university. There was only one university in Shenyang at that time and hundreds of thousands of students wanting to attend meaning that space was limited. So Mr. Liu began another stage of his journey under the instruction of two teachers.
When Mr. Liu was about 29 years old, he was finally able to enter university in 1982 at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts where his work was often exhibited, with the most memorable being a week long exhibit of 108 of his original watercolors. Mr. Liu graduated in 1986 with a major in Industrial Design.
This 1986 solo exhibition deserves special mention here. From the founding of the People's Republic of China until that 1986 exhibition, there was never a solo exhibition at one of China's eight most famous fine art colleges (in Hanyu Pinyin: "Ba Da Mei Yuan"). The Solo Exhibition granted to Mr. Liu's works was the first...and until today there has not been another at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts!
In what was a devastating personal tragedy, these 108 paintings and another 100 paintings were destroyed in 1993 while Mr. Liu was living in the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. There was a disastrous flood that year and Mr. Liu was living in an apartment on the first floor of a building. The water rose to the second floor - and the floodwaters did not recede for nearly a week. All of Mr. Liu's paintings and personal possessions were destroyed; a crushing blow. It took Mr. Liu some time to get over the loss and before he began painting again.
Now, after a decade of research into and developing of his unique technique, Mr. Liu has "re-emerged" and started to exhibit and share his art.
There is more to Mr. Liu's personal story, but let's get on with the answers to questions about his art.
All artists have a creative process - art doesn't just "happen" - and this is part of Mr. Liu's. We'll format this as questions and answers.
How do you know what the painting will be about, what the theme of the piece will be?
"I always have the basic idea prepared mentally before I begin. I need to know early on because I have to mix the paint and prepare the right size of paper. All the time I am mixing the paint I need to be thinking about what the piece will be about: is it sunny or cloudy, clear or misty, is there fog laying close to the ground or clouds cascading down a mountainside. These decisions dictate the color mix and so need to be allowed to roam freely in my thoughts while I mix the paint for the piece. There are many stimuli to my subjects: the geographical region around my hometown, the geography of places I have been to in my travels around China, and certain preferences of mine for things like seasons and animals. But that is only the beginning because until I actually begin I don't really know what the painting will be about until the painting 'tells me' what it wants to be about."
What do you mean "mix the paint?"
"I do not use "store bought" prepared paints, although I do purchase raw materials and some core colors, but then I mix them to create my own colors and combinations as my teacher taught me. There are also certain minerals that I add that give my paintings a kind of texture, even though they are watercolors, and these can only be added when the paint is mixed from "scratch." The same must be said about the colors. Each painting asks for its own colors - and many of the colors and shades of colors I use are just not available commercially."
What type of paper do you use?
"I only use Chinese "Xuan" paper, also called "1,000 Year Paper" from Jingxian County, Anhui Province. There are many reasons for this but anyone looking at a piece of Chinese art that was made decades or even hundreds of years ago - and that has been cared for, carefully - will see why. I also 'age' my paper for at least a year after I obtain it before I use it."
How do you know where to start?
"Actually, I let the painting tell me where to begin. I already have the theme or subject in my mind as I mentioned, and I just look at the blank paper until the paper tells me where to place the first stroke."
How do you decide what goes where in your art?
"It is the same, actually. I allow the painting to direct me. It is the painting that tells me where to go next, what to do next."
How do you know when you have finished a painting?
"Again, it is the same. The painting tells me when it is finished, I just have to be sure to listen. There were times - and still are occasionally - when I didn't listen and I tried to do just one more stroke, put in just one more bit of color, and I, myself, end up ruining the entire piece. I have even had to destroy a painting myself because I didn't listen. Every time I looked at that painting that 'extra' I put in just screamed at me as being out of place. There is just a feeling of completion and the more I listen to the painting the more it speaks to me.
A foreign friend of mine quoted a saying to me that he said was attributed to the Italian artist Carlotti, that kind of guides me now to address this problem: 'Beauty is the summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing needs to be added, taken away, or altered!' and that helps me listen to the painting. The painting knows when it is complete...I only have to listen."
Are all of your pieces connected by theme or idea?
"Not really. I do have a great love for winter and snowfall and mist covered scenery and I enjoy painting scenery, clouds and snow-covered scenes, but my home province is blessed with all 4 seasons so I also enjoy painting all 4 seasons. But to say one painting follows a previous painting is not accurate. My paintings are all landscape or nature themed because that is what I feel, but each painting stands on its own and often I will find myself painting several paintings at the same time, moving from one to another with completely different nature or landscape themes such as mountains or forest; and this is often because while I am painting one painting another painting will call to me with an idea. The only real constants are the process of listening to the paintings and the style I use to bring the painting out from the paper."
I have heard there are some problems with artist's works being copied and then sold as originals. How do you deal with those problems?
"Well, firstly, I have researched and developed my technique over the last 20 years, and continue that research and development. There have been those of my friends, on a lark, that have tried to copy it but even though they have been around my paintings for years...they have not been able to do so.
Secondly, I only use Xuan paper and it is difficult for printers to copy a watercolor painted on Xuan paper. I also add certain minerals to my paint when I make it so that a type of texture is added to my watercolors and this texture cannot be copied even with an expensive laser printer so I am not concerned as a copy on regular paper and without texture is obviously only a copy.
Finally, Crystal Clear China-Global Development Ltd. - my exclusive agent for all of my paintings - has designed a Certificate of Authenticity that accompanies each painting when it is sold. There are actually two parts to the C of A: one is the Certificate of Authenticity, and the other is a Description of the Painting along with a picture of me with the painting. Both documents are also printed on a specific special paper and are signed by me, and show my seal - called a Zhang in China. As well, after my paintings have been mounted and bordered with white, silk brocade, I sign each painting of course, and apply my personal seal, and I also have a special second seal that I use.
So if any paintings stating that they are original Liu Jun Jie Chinese Brush Watercolors are on plain paper, do not have the certain texture, do not come with the special C of A and Painting description with a picture of myself and the painting...and of course, do not look real...then they are not my paintings.
Perhaps I should also add that as of today, in 2007, I have not produced any prints of any of my paintings and currently have no plans to do so or to authorize any limited edition prints to be produced. Should that change, I will ask Crystal Clear China-Global Development to add the details and the prints to their website."
[Below you will find a sample of the CofA and one of the Painting Description]:
Of course there are numerous other questions that Mr. Liu has been asked, but it is not feasible to put them all here. We hope that these few have given you some insight into Mr. Liu's life and art.
Thank you for taking interest.