Liu Xiaodong's 'Half Street' exhibition at Lisson Gallery captures London's gritty pub interiors

Liu Xiaodong's exhibition 'Half Street' at Lisson Gallery in London features large-scale realist paintings depicting the interiors of two pubs and a restaurant, rendered with an unidealized attention to detail. The works include scenes like a dog slumped on a bar counter with its owners in stained chef whites, an empty oriental-style interior with kitschy petrolite surfaces and black electric fans, and a grey-skinned couple overseeing a pub where a child plays on a wooden floor. Liu, a professor at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts in the People's Republic of China, employs his signature method of painting in situ and interacting with the communities he portrays, aligning with both China's officially supported realist aesthetic and international trends in socially engaged art. The paintings incorporate conspicuously unfinished passages and multiple panels, suggesting a conceptual re-motivation of realist techniques, though Liu resists this interpretation. The exhibition, reviewed in ArtReview Asia's November 2013 issue, highlights Liu's ability to navigate socio-cultural perspectives, working within PRC conditions while gaining critical credibility in Western contexts.