Wenwei Liu

My work is about five Chinese folktales based on two books. Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing) contains tales situated in the northern mountains and eastern seas of China. Chinese Beasts Record (Bai Gui Lu) is a collection of stories based on mythical creatures written during ancient times. I grew up listening to these legends as bedtime stories passed down from my parents and grandparents.

These stories have inspired me to create these paintings which are visually derivative of traditional Chinese ink drawings. However, the design of the characters is directly taken from my dreams. Through my research of Chinese folklores, I discovered that many people do not know about these legends because of the Cultural Revolution “Four Olds” which began in Beijing in 1966. The majority of books containing black and white images from these stories were destroyed during this period. With the use of bright colours and creative figure drawings, these paintings will hopefully inspire the next generation.

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