Butterfly 4 - - Liu Xiaofeng, 2007

Liu Xiaofeng

Born 1976 in Hubei Province, China

A contemporary Chinese painter. She is known for her black and white series Body and Butterfly.

Photorealistic paintings

Liu Xiaofeng chooses subjects for her paintings that evoke luxury and erotic. Her staged still lives of the series Body show female beauty and allurement. Her series Butterfly seems to be a metaphor of the series Body. The images of butterflies are painted in an enlarged scale. In this way there remains a distance between the painted world and the world of the viewer. By using a color palette that only includes white, grey and black Liu Xiaofeng highlights the stylistic character of her work. The predominant dark tones of her series Butterfly create a night atmosphere and emphasize the white patterns of the butterfly wings.

Liu Xiaofeng’s photorealistic technique is outstanding.

Butterfly 4

A dark butterfly with white spots on the folded wings rests on a long leaf. The soft light coming from beneath is so dim that only the white spots of the butterfly shape the body. The point of view is on the level of the animal’s head. The leaf and animal’s bin are is in focus while the wings are painted with a slight blur.