Ma Liuming
Encyclopedia
Ma Liuming is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
) is a contemporary Chinese painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and pioneer of performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
. He is known most of all for his exploration of the power and poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
of public nudity
Public nudity
Public nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public place, where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall...
in China, where such behavior was strictly forbidden. That is why he has been the target of government censorship, unable to perform in his own country for most of his career.
In 1981 Ma Liuming started to study oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
with tutor Cai Erhe. He graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts
Hubei Institute of Fine Arts
Hubei Institute of Fine Arts is an art college in the People's Republic of China . It is regarded as one of the best and most selective academies of fine arts in China. Its history dates back to 1920, making it the first private art school in modern China...
in 1991 (MFA) in the Oil Painting Department. Two years later, he was one of the founders of Beijing East Village
Beijing East Village
The Beijing East Village was an avant-garde artistic community of the early 1990s located in the eastern part of Beijing, just past the Third Ring Road on what was then the city's margins. It was formed in 1993 when a group of like-minded artists took up residence together in a "village" of...
, an artists colony on the outskirts of Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. In the early 1990s it became a Mecca for experimental art forms. One of Ma Liuming’s first performances is called “Fen-Ma Liuming’s Lunch 1”, a collaboration with Zhang Huan and Zhu Ming in 1994. He sat, completely nude, sucking a plastic tube that was attached to his penis. In 1994 Ma Liuming was arrested for a period of two months because of works like this. Many of the artists of the Beijing East Village fled in response to this police action.
In order to match his own uniquely androgynous appearance Ma Liuming developed his own performance persona – Fen-Ma Liuming, a hybrid figure of male and female components.
Next to performances painting is a key componenet in his works. Since 2000, he has developed his “Baby series”, in which the face of Fen-Ma Liuming appears on infant’s bodies. It is a surrealistic image that is both disturbing and laughable.
Throughout different mediums such as performance, painting and photography Ma Liuming continues to investigate the limits of provocation, seducing his audience into an inquiry of more intriguing matters.
Selected Solo Exhibitions and Performances
- 2007
- Marella Gallery, 798 Factory, Beijing, China
- Galería Dolores de Sierra, Madrid, SpainChina
- 2005
- “Ma Liuming: Chosen Images”, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, ChinaChina
- 2004
- “Ten Year’s Review of Ma Liuming’s Works”, Top Space, Tai Kang Life Building, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 2003
- “Any Day”, performance at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, JapanChina
- 2002
- “Photographs and video’s of performances”, Soobin Art Gallery, SingaporeChina
- 2001-1996
- Series of performances entitled “(Fen-)Ma Liuming in …”, all over the worldChina
- 1999
- Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USAChina
- 1998
- “Chaos and Birth / Ma Liuming ’98”, Gallery Q, Tokyo, JapanChina
- P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USAChina
- “Fen-Ma Liuming Walks the Great Wall”, performance, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 1997
- “Thirty-six Self Taken Photographs by Ma Liuming II”, performance at Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, JapanChina
- “Photographs of Performances”, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USAChina
- 1996
- “Ma Liuming (paintings)”, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, London, UKChina
- “Fish Child”, performance, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 1995
- “Fen-Ma Liuming and the fish”, performance, Beijing, ChinaChina
- “Fen-Ma Liuming’s lunch I & II”, performances, Beijing East Village, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 1993
- “Dialogue with Gilbert and George”, performance, Beijing East Village, Beijing, ChinaChina
- “Ma Liuming I, Woman’s face and Man’s body”, performance, Beijing East Village, Beijing, ChinaChina
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2008
- “HUBEI! Painters from Hubei Province, China”, Edward Pranger Oriental Art Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2007
- “Timerol, Intimacy”, Triennale, Milan, Italy
- “Dragon’s Evolution”, New York Chian Square Art Center, New York, USA
- 2006
- “Process & Expression”, Star 85 Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan
- “Unclear and Clearness – Contemporary Chinese Art”, Heyri Art Foundation, South Korea
- 2004
- “Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China” (travelling exhibition)
- 2005
- “Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection”, (travelling exhibition)
- Prague Biennale 2, Prague, Czech Republic
- 2002
- Art Moscow, Moscow, Russia
- “Chinese Modernity”, Fondation Armando Alvares Penteada, Sao Paolo, Brazil
- 1999
- “Pink for Boys / Blue for Girls”, NGBK, Berlin, Germany
- 1998
- “Inside Out: New Chinese Art”, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA
- 1995
- Participation in Zhang Huan’s To Raise an Anonymous Mountain by One Meter, Miaofengshan Mountain, Beijing, China