Ma Liuming
Ma Liuming(born 1969 in Huangshi, Hubei province) is a contemporary Chinese painter and pioneer of performance art. He is known most of all for his exploration of the power and poetry of public nudity in China, where such behavior was strictly forbidden. That is why he has been the target of government censorship, unable to perform in his own country for most of his career.
In 1981 Ma Liuming started to study oil painting with tutor Cai Erhe. He graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in 1991 (MFA) in the Oil Painting Department. Two years later, he was one of the founders of Beijing East Village, an artists colony on the outskirts of Beijing. In the early 1990s it became a Mecca for experimental art forms. One of Ma Liuming’s first performances was called “Fen-Ma Liuming’s Lunch 1”, a collaboration with Zhang Huan and Zhu Ming in 1994. He sat, completely nude, sucking a plastic tube that was attached to his penis. In 1994 Ma Liuming was arrested for a period of two months because of works like this. Many of the artists of the Beijing East Village fled in response to this police action.
In order to match his own uniquely androgynous appearance Ma Liuming developed his own performance persona – Fen-Ma Liuming, a hybrid figure of male and female components.
Next to performances painting is a key component in his works. Since 2000, he has developed his “Baby series”, in which the face of Fen-Ma Liuming appears on infant’s bodies. It is a surrealistic image that is both disturbing and laughable. Throughout different mediums such as performance, painting and photography Ma Liuming continues to investigate the limits of provocation, seducing his audience into an inquiry of more intriguing matters.
Selected Solo Exhibitions and Performances
- 2007
- Marella Gallery, 798 Factory, Beijing, China
- Galería Dolores de Sierra, Madrid, SpainChina
- 2005
- “Ma Liuming: Chosen Images”, Aura Gallery, Shanghai, ChinaChina
- 2004
- “Ten Year’s Review of Ma Liuming’s Works”, Top Space, Tai Kang Life Building, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 2003
- “Any Day”, performance at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, JapanChina
- 2002
- “Photographs and video’s of performances”, Soobin Art Gallery, SingaporeChina
- 2001-1996
- Series of performances entitled “(Fen-)Ma Liuming in …”, all over the worldChina
- 1999
- Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USAChina
- 1998
- “Chaos and Birth / Ma Liuming ’98”, Gallery Q, Tokyo, JapanChina
- P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USAChina
- “Fen-Ma Liuming Walks the Great Wall”, performance, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 1997
- “Thirty-six Self Taken Photographs by Ma Liuming II”, performance at Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, JapanChina
- “Photographs of Performances”, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USAChina
- 1996
- “Ma Liuming (paintings)”, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, London, UKChina
- “Fish Child”, performance, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 1995
- “Fen-Ma Liuming and the fish”, performance, Beijing, ChinaChina
- “Fen-Ma Liuming’s lunch I & II”, performances, Beijing East Village, Beijing, ChinaChina
- 1993
- “Dialogue with Gilbert and George”, performance, Beijing East Village, Beijing, ChinaChina
- “Ma Liuming I, Woman’s face and Man’s body”, performance, Beijing East Village, Beijing, ChinaChina
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2008
- “HUBEI! Painters from Hubei Province, China”, Edward Pranger Oriental Art Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2007
- “Timerol, Intimacy”, Triennale, Milan, Italy
- “Dragon’s Evolution”, New York Chian Square Art Center, New York, USA
- 2006
- “Process & Expression”, Star 85 Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan
- “Unclear and Clearness – Contemporary Chinese Art”, Heyri Art Foundation, South Korea
- 2004
- “Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China” (travelling exhibition)
- 2005
- “Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection”, (travelling exhibition)
- Prague Biennale 2, Prague, Czech Republic
- 2002
- Art Moscow, Moscow, Russia
- “Chinese Modernity”, Fondation Armando Alvares Penteada, São Paulo, Brazil
- 1999
- “Pink for Boys / Blue for Girls”, NGBK, Berlin, Germany
- 1998
- “Inside Out: New Chinese Art”, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA
- 1995
- Participation in Zhang Huan’s To Raise an Anonymous Mountain by One Meter, Miaofengshan Mountain, Beijing, China
References
- China Art Book. Dumont: 2007. ISBN 978-3-8321-7769-0
- Ma Liuming. Damiani: 2007. ISBN 978-88-6208-001-9
External links
Persondata |
Name |
Liuming, Ma |
Alternative names |
|
Short description |
|
Date of birth |
1969 |
Place of birth |
|
Date of death |
|
Place of death |
|