Liu Xiaodong: Spring in New York

Liu Xiangdong is one of my favorite contemporary realist artists. His work is personal but expansive. This book follows his experience as he was quarantined in New York during the first outbreak in 2020. Being a former New Yorker, and having left it at that time of the pandemic, I became both nostalgic and fascinated looking at the people and landscapes of the Big Apple. His artwork encompasses a point in time in the city that is both traumatic and vibrant. Xiangdong truly captures the essence of his subjects and gives you a perspective from his compassionate vision of the world.

Half of the paintings are photographs with a few random dabs of paint applied to obscure the identities of people captured in street photography.