Lyu Peng: Beautiful Pictures

The exhibition will highlight a new body of elusive work entitled “Beautiful Pictures”, the exhibition’s namesake, that includes the artist’s first representations of animals, in addition to a previous series focused on the Little Red Book, “Reading Times”. Lyu demonstrates a masterful command of Chinese mineral pigments and the technique of traditional Chinese “meticulous painting” on silk, but in service of his unique approach to painting. His characteristic style is influenced by oil painting methods and the Western art historical canon, as well as the social, economic, political, and cultural context of contemporary China, and both the ancient and modern history of its origins. Iconic 20th-century touchpoints, like the Little Red Book, meet inset depictions of Tang dynasty blue-green shanshui landscape paintings, surrounded by angelic figures with Gen-Z haircuts and selfie sticks. Such creative anachronism is perfectly intertwined with the surrealist roots of Lyu’s compositions, themselves complemented by several nods to both Salvador Dalí and René Magritte’s respective oeuvres. Beyond surrealism, Lyu also cites the early and high Italian Renaissance periods and artists like Giotto, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Caravaggio as significant influences, Chinese artists like Gu Kaizhi and his epic illustrated handscroll Nymph of the Luo River, bird-and-flower painting, and the composition and color palette of Tibetan Buddhist thangka paintings. The complexity of these layered dreamscapes and the breadth of historical and contemporary motifs and symbols therein ensure that no one narrative or theme can prevail over an infinite expanse of potential interpretations. Lyu hopes that the intentionally open-ended, non-linear nature of his work will allow viewers to personally engage, creating their unique understanding as informed by their individual experiences and perceptions. As part of the gallery’s ongoing programmatic focus on contemporary Asian artists, Qualia is proud to welcome Lyu back to the Bay Area following his 2021 solo show, The Youth, The Magic World.