Chi Liu

When seeing meat lying in the fridge, artist Chi Liu imagines that it is from his own body. Liu associates this morbid curiosity with the ancient torture LingQi, which happens to sound similar to his name. LingQi is a process of cutting apart a convict’s body thousands of times until they die. Through experiments with painting and photography, Liu explores the concept of LingQi and imagines himself immersed in different scenarios that conjure feelings of the afterlife. In The Farewell, the artist constructs the unstable relationship of the offeror and what is being offered. For the artist, when he sees meat discarded on the street, he celebrates it and is reminded of mortality. Integrating pieces of meat in his works has become a significant part of Liu’s practice as a way to play with the doubling of sacrifice and horror. In his paintings, Liu removes personal interference, to allow for the visual shock that happens when the viewer confronts the unconventional material.

In his fifth year studying art and art history, Chi Liu primarily works in painting, photography, installation art, and performance. He combines theory, criticism, and aesthetics throughout his practice, and is inspired by his Chinese heritage. As a form of self-reflection, his process involves embodying personal experience through the medium of paint.