04/19/2026
Liu Xiaodong One person, one city: all I need.
Lisson Gallery
These are impressive El Frescos, or onsite oil paintings. I remember seeing these live action paintings on IG a while ago, but I didn’t put it together until after the show. Lui literally was standing out in the cold winter going off on his painting, what I can only assume were Larpers at first glance. The large paintings felt like you were witness to the artist’s environment.
PR:
For the renowned figurative artist’s latest painterly journey and his first exhibition in Los Angeles, Liu Xiaodong visited another American city last year, focusing his documentation of a stay in Detroit on a single, central focus for the first time in his career. His sole subject is John Mcintyre, a Detroit-based tattoo artist and member of a local medieval fighting team, who is variously depicted by the artist in full armor, mid-battle in a snowy forest, or else at home, relaxing in a hot tub. The concentration of this painting project on one man, the host and conduit for all of the artist’s interactions with the city, leads Liu to portray industrial and suburban Detroit through the lens of John and his loyal band of brothers.
Trained in the painting traditions of socialist realism in his native China, Liu has since travelled far and wide – to twenty-three countries, across five continents – to create a global portrait of humanity from Syrian refugees, orphans in Greenland and Mexican migrants, to Indonesian socialites, casino-goers in Macau and a royal family in the Middle East. For his Detroit project, Liu initially envisaged painting perhaps retired workers from the motor industry or maybe rappers from the influential music scene, but as often occurs in his on-location practice any pre-conceived notions or carefully researched plans change radically once on the ground. Liu also predominantly paints al fresco and on-site, which proved to be a challenge during a bracing Midwest midwinter. Chancing upon the figure of John, embedded in Detroit subcultures and historical battles, allowed Liu to train his brush on one ‘host’ individual, somehow representing the wider communities he embodies.
