“The Other Side of the Bank”is the name for Liu Qinghe’s recent painting album，also the title of the preface by himself of the album.

　　This way may seems to be specially unique currently，for prefacing by art critics or art curators has already become a current formulary or fixed mode. Nevertheless，Liu Qinghe is diligent in writing and has a good style of writing，with various styles like“true feelings”，“capriccio”and“comments”. However，this time his exceeding his duties to meddle in prefacing is never meant to contest with those professionally making a living by writing，just purely out of certain kind of interest of expressing own feelings.

　　“The Other Side of the Bank”is snarling and voluble，different from previous writings by Liu Qinghe. Just like Ci in late Qing Dynasty，it is cascading and seemingly filled with mysterious principles;or just like a man at his middle age mutters after drink，unclearly but sincerely. Fortunately the openning gets to the point soon and also offers clear definition that “The other side of the bank refers to a kind of spacial distance or say a kind of situation”. If so，then“The Other Side of the Bank”is Liu Qinghe’s current fraunting，also the painter’s current standing.

　　Also as what Liu Qinghe said“In real life，for a man，either idling or rushing，facing or escaping，becomes virtual or true situation. Therefore，creating environment，entering the most pleasant stage gradually and escaping embarrassed situations is the whole process experienced from active striving to passive cowering.”May be of his own thinkings and arguments，or of other meanings，but to me，more like self-knowledge and introspectiveness of the painter who has already been over half way of the life.

　　Born in 1961，Liu Qinghe has the typicalness of post-60s Chinese artists：on one hand，he is neither fascinated about the so-called “macroscopical narrative”，nor wants to limit his own life and inspiration to“the ideal Utopia”;on the other hand，he still holds“seriousness and carefulness towards life and art”，yearns for ideals but strives for realizing. As one of the main painters of “the New Generation” in early 90s，Liu Qinghe turns his eyes to daily life issues in the creation of this period，begins to tell something relevant to his own life experiences，also believes the true power of art lies in the commonest individual daily life.

　　However，different from other painters of the new generation，Liu Qinghe’s works show stronger personal tendency.

　　Actually early in 1987 in his graduate stone print group works Wall，Liu Qinghe not only showed his zeal and care for “current life situations and humanistic background”，also constantly purified and summarized real life scenes and gradually amplified on certain predicting cultural conclusion. But at this time he used picture-story developing composition in the narration of Wall，which was undoubtedly benefited from his studying experience of comic strip in undergraduate course of CAFA.

　　Starting from Wall，“my connivance and exaggeration of interest and tropism and a process from pursuing solemnity to fearing solemnity then to hating solemnity were inspired.”(by the painter). One result was that Liu Qinghe turned to engage himself into the“traditional realm” traditional Chinese painting and confidently thought“what we can do is just paying attention to current life and view the traditional with this criterion，then you will not be overwhelmed by the traditional and can further highlight the permanent theme of‘Human & Life’”(as above). Second result was that different from other painters of the new generation，the painter only represented the experience of real life in a cold and common attitude，and tried to establish a“meaningful”image system both related to his own living status and reflecting cultural status of the times.

　　During 1990 to 1991，he created series of works like Rain-Snow，Smoke-Cloud and Man in A Swivel Chair，which were shown in the “New Generation Art Exhibition” in 1991 and other key exhibitions the same years.“The Other Side”shown in these works，sometimes，seemed to be so“outstanding”in contemporary art exhibitions as reflected in shapes and materials of works based on traditional Chinese paintings;sometimes，seemed to be incompatible in traditional Chinese painting exhibitions for its widely different temperament of“injecting feelings of the times in traditional Chinese paintings”. Though such“The Other Side”only lied in Liu Qinghe’s primary level with individual style，in a more active meaning，there was a gradually reforming and constantly changing particularity hidden inside.

　　It worths mentioning that no matter Rain-Snow，Smoke-Cloud or Man in A Swivel Chair，they all have special meanings in expanding the themes of traditional Chinese painting，for Liu Qinghe firmly believed “the first problem faced in injecting feeling of the times into traditional Chinese painting was still the expansion of the themes.”However，in creation，the painter，on one hand，required finding out the meanings in the process of representing objects. As“stating arguments one by one will result in narrative in details;expatiating clearly one by one will lose random of ink and wash painting”，Liu Qinghe adequately filtered factors in life and further refined them to“make them more representative，more typical and more meaningful.”In this sense，Liu Qinghe’s theme expansion through focusing on city life might be presentational，while the endosarc was a certain kind of dedication to establishment of the image system based on organic expansion of themes. “Actually，I know my own characteristics，one of which I think should be enlarging the confidence，that is image，the inspiring power of image，while technology should be included inside the image.”Liu Qinghe said.

　　There is no doubt that the images inside Liu Qinghe’s paintings were directly life-facing，also restructure-focused and full of imagination，which made Liu Qinghe’s works echoed with city life experienced by subject in themes and styles and constructed“a fairly complete system”about“current living environment and current humanistic background”through the establishment of images.

　　During his postgraduate learning，“his disdain to cast a look at the fixed and unchanging route and format far away from the truth of life in traditional Chinese paintings”led to his further and further away from his artistic image discovery，also determined the spacing between his works and traditional Chinese paintings.

　　If say the image structures of Rain-Snow，Smoke-Cloud and Man in A Swivel Chair during 1990 to 1991 could more or less be tracked back to the examples of western modern masters like David Hockney and Francis Bacon，or even to the style of western “surrealism”. Then after 1993，Liu Qinghe seemed to begin far and far away from those examples or styles，but purely perfected his own image system of ink and wash in name.

　　Game in 1993 does not go too far away，for in the works，the way of dismenbering real objects and restructuring composition not yet appears. Real scenes are maintained，with only life-style composition of real objects slightly changed. This kind of low-pitched treatment also gains a specially incredible feeling.

　　Mr. Wang in 1994 seems to continue the classic way of the main character“a sitting man”in Man in a Swivel Chair(1991)，but the incredible feeling caused by“supposal of object location”appears to be stronger. Therefore，behind the seemingly real appearance，what we can hear is the sneering of the painter.

　　Meteor Shower in 1998，though has the shape of meteor shower in the night sky similar to drizzle in Rain-Snow，there is a classic scene of dismenbering real objects and restructuring composition appearing in the picture. In this scene，Liu Qinghe uses more subjunctive approaches to further expand into a group cultural tease city people.

　　Seen from the sculpture of a single person，I don’t want to deny some critics’s conclusion on“Liu Qinghe uses his unique northern youth image to successfully highlight the huge pressing feeling and helpless psychological state of most youths on the edge”，but as a whole，this critical particularity is more represented as a certain kind of special“Liu Qinghe-style humor”.

　　Liu Qinghe-style humor is neither blatting of Beijingese nor trick of tickling，but more like comic dialogue by Tianjin Ma Sanli，an allowance-making and interesting“black humor”. Actually everyone who has deep contact with Liu Qinghe will find his personality of“black humor”，that is acridity and satire below calm and undemonstrative appearance. Therefore，in the picture，Liu Qinghe may repeatedly introduces some elements like relaxing body，drooping hands，stiff arms，“sky”，“mountains and fire”，“broken wall”or“wire netting”，but to me，they are still some of those specific“images”and still far away from“symbolized”. As they have no independent meanings and they may be only visual “fragments”，or may be just organic composition of“that huge load of humor to be revealed”，that is to say，these elements are meaningful only if represented in a group way. Some views like“sometimes add netting symbols in some paintings to reflect intangible neting formed by various factors in reality”may be over-explained without real understanding. Just for this，Liu Qinghe’s creations did not fall into embarrassed situation of “graphic and symbolized copies” due to the dedication of images，therefore，the painter could both organically keep systematic integrity of the images and calmly generate various humors and endless interestings.

　　Liu Qinghe，except for this unique way of humor to control the integrity of the images，also adopts different kinds of painty methods to reach the same goal，so that in his recent works，the two are effectively twisted together，forming certain kind of combine strength.

　　In one talking with Liu Qinghe，painter Li Jinming said“You have always been caring for body things and stressing upon its strength and power，only after that you will begin to inject more sentiments inside”，clearly pointing out that “body shaping”was the“strong point”of Liu Qinghe. While in Liu Qinghe’s creation concept，this kind of“body shaping”must serve the whole image system，but is specifically carried out as various technical factors including images. Actually as for technical factors inside the images，it also reflects the constructive and imaginative of Liu Qinghe’s paintings.

　　We can cleary learn from articles written by Liu Qinghe that the painter not only firmly opposes“focusing on brush and ink”，but also goes against judging new ink and wash works with traditional standard of brush and ink. In one talking with Yu Ding，Liu Qinghe further explained his point of view：“Ink and wash paintings are moving towards the contemporary era and should rely on life accumulation and inspiration. One will neither be unmoved nor run away from new problems faced in ink and wash painting if lives sincerely and truly. The so-called new problems，also as technique representation of ink and wash，hardly have experiences to refer to in city themes. The stressing upon‘focusing on brush and ink’will only lead to hostility towards real life. ”Indeed，the tradition of Chinese ink and wash paintings is never success-keeping，but always in a changing status. Even reaching its late period，from Shi Tao in Qing Dynasty to modern Fu Baoshi，we can still see the appeal of restructuring innovative and contemporary brush and ink. On the other hand，one-side emphasis on brush and ink means to equalize brush and ink techniques to ink and wash painting itself，and is finally useless to free development of ink and wash painting，even further reduces the surviving space of ink and wash painting itself.

　　What Liu Qinghe has done specifically is actively embracing real life with brush and ink，not hating it. With thoughtful considerations，the painter began trying a painting way combining lines and faces in early 90s，to match his sharp expansion on city themes. From Man in a Swivel Chair and Rain-Snow we could see the brush usage of lines had already become stiff fulfillment of tracing outlines or stressing the upon traditional mission no longer，while the forming of faces was closely related to large-area rendering integrated with“boneless ink usage”and ink and wash. Their substances both pointed to powerful creation of images and environmental atmosphere，to take on a“seemingly imaginative but quite real”scene. It is noticeable that the openning nature inside the brush and ink structure of works not only adopted the western but also not refused the traditional，neither excluded functions of brush nor weakened the exertion of ink. Just as Liu Qinghe said：“This is the tolerance of modern society，or say modern art. ”In addition，the nature was also presented in the painter’s keeping of that“abiogenesis”due to integration of brush and ink to the maximum. Maybe someone will criticize its existence as appears to be“in the chaos without clear understanding of which is right or wrong，or maybe beginning from wrong and ending with wrong.”However，it offered a kind of fluid feeling in the process，a kind of nature revealment and a quality with the same humor，“This may be the most beneficial thing physically and mentally. ”

　　Later Liu Qinghe began to show off and adequately showcase the openning nature of brush and ink structure，and to further expand free space of individual creation. The painter praised highly a kind of inverted gesture，that was no longer regarding linear brush usage as the standard of shaping as all traditional classics did，but“body shaping”through skilled ink color control with ink. With it as the principal axis，the relationship between faces and lines took on some kind“location reversal”. In some paintings，the brush usage of lines was used in the background，forming a kind of neting composition controled and slightly decorative. While in other paintings，“thin lines are just ornaments inside”.

　　Actually in Liu Qinghe’s paintings，the block area and multi-level change of ink are both shaping and of material sense，as well as atmospheric and emotional. Just for this，this“ink usage”need more the painter’s stronger control. Therefore，Liu Qinghe created his new“ink usage”called“inner outline”in his portraits.

　　The so-called“inner outline”originated in chance keeping of“white”and“highlight”in his early paintings，and here is elevated to a kind of powerfully shape controled deliberate design. In his talk with painter Li Jin，Li Jin explained it as：“’White’and‘highlight’are quite important taches. Maybe it is just your‘shape’and so-called‘power’that controls the‘white’on‘lines’，especially that you can be random when doing shape and periphery. However，in treating flowing‘white’areas，you are quite objective and careful. How to say，from‘bones’，all are unified in‘lines’in the periphery. These‘white’in inner outline contain something quite western，but for this‘white’，you can control to use it. If studying and explain your painting，we should pay more attention to this‘white’. From difference，there are few people painting‘inner outline’，and your‘inner outline’to me is‘white’. It is the‘white’that determines your good things.”

　　Liu Qinghe undoubtedly agreed with Li Jin’s explanation and also admited that “’White’ came from the angle of western paintings. ” It is true that except the structure function of “inner outline”，“white” can also generate some kind of explanations about “color”，that is the richness of black，white and grey colors. But all these were just helpful discussions on description.

　　Actually from inside，Liu Qinghe seems to be back to Chinese-style structure of thinking and arguing，just as that kind of reflection in The Other Side of the Bank written in 2006. In another article True Feelings，Liu Qinghe wrote：“I just can not help my mood being stable and attaching down-to-earth to the order of the reality. But deep in my heart I am a man following rules docilely. It makes me struggle hard in superstition and self-confidence，in happiness and sufferings. ” Actually Liu Qinghe knows in his heart where he belongs to，or maybe has already found the way to “land”，but he seems to consciously put himeslf into an embarrassed situation of “taking measures without attention to the changes in circumstances”，for he seems to be more fascinated with that kind of struggling feeling，that floating track and that perception of himself “on the scene” generated.

　　Wangjing Garden，Beijing，January，2007

作者：Li,Zhao