Sometimes life proceeds with such spontaneity. Liu Shiming was born into a family of intellectuals in a big city, and yet, upon all the accidental and inevitable encounters, most of his life is spent with the people at the bottom of Chinese society, and the “tough” days have become an inexhaustible treasure trove that he owns. Liu often says, “Those beautiful memories are the motivation behind my creation. Transcending through time and space, I reproduce the past to satisfy my nostalgia for things that have disappeared.
Although the results before my eyes are not the same as what they used to be, or they can’t be seen at all nowadays, the world in my heart remains the same. So, what I do now is to absorb the past, as the source of today’s creation, which is like a fine wine that’s been fermenting for a long time, and the aftertaste is endless.”
In 1961, Liu Shiming resolutely left the Central Academy of Fine Arts where he studied and worked and started a new life in Henan. He felt refreshed about everything regarding Henan’s rural aspect. Especially the healthy rural women with swarthy skin, they were dressed in black, top to bottom. Their hair neatly coiled up, they walked as fast as the wind. They bustled about in the field or the kitchen. Often drenched in sweat, but they never complained. Here in Henan, the farmers’ idea of fun did not come in excessive form. Casually, they set up a stage, and operas took place. Folk operas were Liu’s favourite; he never missed a show. Meanwhile, he was observant as an artist. The fascinating details he noticed, such as the young female performers backstage nursing their babies and helping them pee by holding the legs apart, breathed so much life. Later, Liu journeyed on to Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, and Hubei. He became familiar with the young boatmen who lived in the boat on the Yangtze River, the fisherfolk who carried their boat with two oars on their shoulders on the embankment of the Yellow River, the chaps who beat Ansai waist drum on the Loess Plateau... All these men and women lived on deep in Liu’s memory.
Back then, Liu did not have the means to record these moving scenes in life immediately. He said, “When I see people, the environment, and events in life, I pay attention to the action and snap an image in my head. … I memorise the people’s outlines and features. The impression shall be the material I will work on for my creation.” Such memories last for years. Upon a long period of visual and mental memory, he knew the rural life so well that once he closed his eyes, those tableaux came alive in his head. What’s comforting amidst the limitations due to objective conditions is that, he was granted the time to mull over, to allow the fermenting of the memories and the calming of all the impetuosity and impulsiveness. Finally, this jug of wine turned mature and mellow. What had been ordinary became profound.
In 1980, Liu returned to teach at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. With the relatively stable circumstances for creation, before long he was in his element and profuse artworks came forth. Continuing the narrative style, Liu employed realistic techniques to create the authentic and romantic rural scenes. The sculptures effused a fragrant air of rural qualities. Farmhouse, Farm Cave, Underground Cave Dwelling in Luoyang, Cooking, Feeding the Sheep and so on were such a vivacious representation of the daily life in the countryside. After a hard day’s work, the simple and low-slung farm house became the old farmer’s cosy nest where he could light up a pouch of tobacco leaves to smoke in a long-stemmed Chinese pipe and enjoy. Over there in the shack, the woman at home happily kneaded the dough to prepare dinner for the whole family. This was the ordinary life of rural people, harsh but not lacking joy. This was how Liu felt.
Some sculptures depicted folk customs in Henan and Hebei, such as Ansai Waist Drummer, Man Playing Suona, Henan Zhuizi, and Shanxi Bangzi. The language Liu’s sculptures spoke was as refreshing, vivacious, bold and primitive as the folk arts depicted. The artworks were all expressions of true feelings.
In the late 1980s, the life of boat people became a main subject matter of Liu’s creation. He portrayed many boatmen and farmers in the A Family on the River, Wooden Raft on the Yangtze River and so on. If you look closely, you can find the complete set of furniture and utensils in the boat. In the shed, there’s even a swaddled baby fast asleep. This is a sweet little home!
As I review these sculptures, a fragrance of rural air envelopes me. These works epitomise the rural life in Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi and other areas in China in the 1960s and 1970s. They are an authentic expression on the subject matter of a rural lifestyle. While the strong regional style itself possesses the touching power of simplicity, the clay material adopted by Liu is coherent and complementary, which results in tangible warmth in the sculptures.
The reason why Liu’s sculptures are touching and warm lies in his sincerity. He refers to the truth, affection, and love in life as the three treasures in his creation. He does not pretend or tease in his creation but reveals his true emotions whenever he can. The behaviours and aesthetics of the ordinary people are always respected, for Liu believes that folk art and rural art should display the vitality where innocence and simplicity are the essence. With this approach to creation, Liu sees the profound in the ordinary, and lasting in the plain.