Butterfly 1

**Liu Xiaofeng**

Liu Xiaofeng is a contemporary painter from Hubei Province, China (*1976). 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 stylised 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.

Her oeuvre represents a self-confident young Chinese generation. Liu Xiaofeng makes a link to the Chinese erotic paintings of the 18th century but translates them to contemporary society.

**Butterfly 1**

A dark butterfly rests on some leafs in a dim light. The white spots on the wingtops reveal the beauty of the butterfly that would not otherwise be recognized in the dark.