Leo Liu

Leo Liu Xuanqi (1977) is a Chinese contemporary artist currently residing in Singapore. A graduate in Art & Design in 1999. He moved to Singapore in 2006 and left his decade long career as an Art director in design and advertising in 2009 to pursue art full-time. He was awarded Platinum Award at the 31st UOB Singapore Painting of the Year Competition for his artwork “Wandering Cloud”.

Leo’s works fuses modern graphics design elements with traditional painting techniques, achieving a sense of contrast in dynamic design versus still realism. His play on dualism and dialectics inspires reflection on the interaction between tradition and the contemporary, within this rapidly evolving world. He is inspired by history and society at large, often seeking to provoke his audience into thinking about contemporary issues facing humanity and the world around them. In 2009 his work is an ongoing reflection of personal identity embedded within popular culture. In his “Cloud” series, Leo plays with the idea of permanence and the temporal and explores the tension that arises at the crossroads of rapid globalization. In 2012 he also made an important pivot towards fusing charcoal realism with POP Art paintings to manifest greater freedom in artistic imagination and expression. In 2014 he also begun to explore using contemporary styles to express traditional Chinese ink painting, bringing traditional ink into installation art to achieve an artistic breakthrough in uniqueness and style.