This is the sixth year that I have paid close attention to Professor Liao’s works, and I haveorganized a series of his solo exhibitions. But this is the first time tocurate a solo exhibition of his painting from life. It is not simply because hehas created some works of painting from life, but because his painting fromlife is a valuable special case worthy of attention and research.

There is no need to elaborate on the importance of painting from life. So I will just talk abouta few characteristics of Liao’s painting from life from my own perspective.

Firstly, hispainting from life is not merely for its own sake. In fact, this is becomingincreasingly prominent in his painting from life—he has gone through thetransition from simple painting from life to the gradual permeation of hispersonal artistic signs, for example, the image of Rubberband, which frequentlyappears in his painting from life. Moreover, take the nine pieces of painting fromlife in Guilin last year, almost no traces of “ordinary” painting from life canbe observed but symbolized features, which display the visual languagestructure to the fullest.

For most artists,painting from life and artistic creation are divided, with their respectivedistinct language styles, while a unity of artistic language has gradually beenevident in his. As a matter of fact, I am constantly confused by the formerartists as their painting from life and artistic creation do not seem to becreated by the same person. In contrast, as for his works, distinctive style ofhis is imprinted in both his artistic creation and painting from life despitethe fact that the images may vary. How can this be? You will know it if yourealize that his works are highly recognizable although presented differently.

Neverrepeating is anther striking feature of his painting from life. It isunavoidable for numerous artists, even including some famous artists, to fallinto stereotype when it comes to painting from life. The function of paintingfrom life may well explain it—many artists take it as a means to sharpen theirskills so as to facilitate their work. It is true that painting from life is tosharpen the skills. But the trick is sharpening the skills is not an end initself. Unlike others, Mr. Liao has been painting from life for artisticcreation, trying to diminish the gap between painting from life and creation.And he has succeeded—in a way, painting from life has become his own privatereserve for creation.

Thefeature of his painting from life in itself is fading while the human interestis blooming due to the inclusion of more creative elements and his reflectionon and exploration of various possibilities. Traces of this can be found in hisJourney to the South and even in Snow at Mount Meigu, an earlier series. TheDock series he created at Langzhong this year stood out because it is presentedin means similar to that of genre paintings.

Thecharacteristics of Mr. Liao’s painting from life are hardly seen among Chineseartists—in other words this is an extremely special case. Therefore, the causeof its formation deserves extra attention. In my opinion, a direct and plainanswer is persistence, especially in the research and exploration of morepossibilities of painting from life, which leads to his discovery of his own“way” of painting. For more information about this, I recommend a close studyof his works and a careful reading of his writing, A Decade of Seeking.

ADecade of Seeking not only reveals the “way” he has found, but also provides asolution to an embarrassing problem—how to invigorate painting from life. Thisis actually a false proposition in itself—painting from life is composed ofpainting and life, which means that the way of “painting” is not necessarilyfixed, and that “life” is dynamic; therefore, painting from life has enormousvitality and should not be simplified as a way to sharpen the skills in a rigidway. What is most valuable is that Liao Xinsong has set up a model for paintingfrom life.

Heis still painting from life. We are looking forward to more variety in hisworks, and we firmly believe that with his practice and reflection, the modelof this special case will flourish.

Baishui

Chengdu

May, 2016