The Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong is one of the most famous contemporary artists in Asia. His oeuvre depicts moments of human life with an extraordinary immediacy and exceptional empathy. A family, a refugee boat, agricultural workers, or the demi-monde – he shows a wealth of subjects, representing the unlimited diversity of people and cultures. His work is characterized throughout by the greatest possible degree of openness and tolerance toward the other.

Kunsthalle and NRW-Forum Düsseldorf are staging a major double exhibition on the artist. It is the first retrospective show dedicated to him in the world. The accompanying monograph attempts to capture the tremendous complexity of Liu Xiaodong’s art. It contains a selection of works from 1983-2018, about 60 paintings, drawings, photographs, and film stills.

Liu has always sympathetically portrayed minorities both in and outside China. For the very first time, this book showcases paintings from his project “Transgender/Gay” – a series of portraits from Berlin’s gay and transgender scene, which Liu created in 2018 while staying in the German capital.