In the contemporary China, the amount of art andartist has reached a state of unprecedented profusionand distinction. This emphatic phenomenon andfact is in its essence the fruit of cultural explosiveforce. It has received, on the one hand, worldwide concern, and on the other hand, reflectionand controvercy from the art field. It includesmany important topics of cultural alternativeand substantial subjects on social transition andconstruction. For instance, realistic painting which isthe most widely adopted method in China has facedgreat pressure and challenge in the Western historyof art. Until the time of modernism, it is almostreplaced. After the introduction and developmentperiod, realistic painting became the mainstreamof political ideological artistic language due to thesocial change in the 20th century China. But after around of modernistic practice, it seemed to receivethe Chinaesque challenge. Then how do we putrealistic artistic language into practice? Is it a mis_t inChinese artistic environment? Theoretical questiondoes not equal to practical authenticity. Only whenfaced with concrete problem, will this discussionbecome well targeted. For example, the writingof art history today is no longer subjected to onemodel, nor is it a political announcement, but is thegenuine illustration of individual value. Steppinginto the new century, the direction of art is changingunceasingly. The freedom of art is developingtowards a multi-dimensional state. Art is no longerbound by the format of image but is beginning toexpand into a new spiritual and ideological level.

　　Liu Huijun, as an artist who has experiencedmultilingual practice, finally chooses to paintrealistically. However, he is not content with thesimplicity of visual identi_cation, but uses a speci_cvisual object to illustrate vague semantic conceptand concrete method to explore the spiritual world.

　　Liu Huijun's previous native-style realistic workswere full of tensility, which expressed the commonpursuit of 20th artists----to let the image be free andactive. It was the spirit of that period of time thatprompted the artists to seek this kind of freedom.

　　Liu Huijun's present paintings are mainly of smallsize so the instantaneous perception is captured atonce. As Liu puts it, this sort of inmost feeling mustbe turned into visual image within a minimum oftime. In this light, the process of the artist goingform slackness to meticulousness is an antagonisticcontradiction. This contradiction stems from theinner confusion of the artist----contradiction of thereality and remoteness of history. Moreover, aftera round of artistic challenge and live experience,an artist is either extroversive or introversive. Anextrovertive artist can be flamboyant and havenothing to cenceal. An introvertive artist does notcare about the style of language, nor is he afraidof the coldness of prevalent custom. The key pointis whether the artist can internalize the languageand put it into ideology and concept, or construct ahidden inner world.

　　The preeminence of Liu Huijun is that heendeavors to interpret his confusion of the worldinto images, in which we see the elegy of life, themystery of the uncognizable, the spaces of theunreachable, the questions of vanity, the reverse ofthe time. The artist, like every one of us, has beenstruggling and entangling with what he has toconvey. As for the method of presentment, whetherrealism or abstractionism, it is only the matter of theapproach. Liu Huijun has adopted the former one,because only figurative painting could express hisunderstanding of the world.

　　For instance, 《gate of the heaven》《the freegate》《seeking path》《spider》《inflowingwater》, they all virtualize the time and space. Inthe presence of the absolute visual scene, lies thecontroversy and impossibility around us whichre_ects the dilemma in this world.

　　Liu Huijun is a peace seeker, who is alwayscontemplating things in the aspect of cultural andsocial background which he interprets into image.As a consequence, some of his works indicatesthis personalized contemplation, just like a softand peaceful lyric such as . In his works, female _gures are constantlyused to express his thoughts, representing thepresence of melancholy, beauty and charm. Putin an absurd environment, the figures arousepeople's compassion. When the artist is creatingthe environment, he is raising the question relatedto life, time and space. The surreal paintings exceednormal daily life and dramatize the realistic features.His painting style does not fix on the landscape orstill life, but he develops the story of his painting ina time order, using a slice of life scene to raise hisquestion.In the painting , he mournsfor the rapid change of time and space, in whichhe depicts his sorrow and dreary. depicts the confrontation of repression andfreedom. is the expectation of two separateworlds. is the existence of isolationand solitude.is the plaint of the brevity of life. is the rivalry between life and time……

　　Liu Huijun's art work and his attitude towardsrealism makes him persevere in the ar tisticexploration, meanwhile he immerses himself in animaginary world. The key changes lie in whetherthe artist involves his emotions and thoughts in thecreating process of his work, to depict the imaginarytime and space through the unique connotation. Heis breaking the fetters the time limit and stridingforward to the eternal freedom of art.

　　2010/11/2

　　HuaJiaDi, Bejing

作者：Wang,Chunchen