We live in a world of endless to-do lists, messages, television and social media screaming for our attention. Even when we take time away from work there’s a seemingly never-ending list of things to do around the house. It feels like there’s never enough time to stop and appreciate the everyday and that’s what illustrator and artist Jiahe Liu does through his work.
A man sits alone on a bench seemingly exhausted, a woman sits on a hotel bed with a bandage around her head. What are their stories, what brought them to this point in life, what are their life experiences and what comes next for them? By deliberately removing their facial expressions, eyes, nose and lips he’s asking us to create narratives for these individuals.
It’s a similar exercise to when people sit at restaurants and makeup stories for diners on adjacent tables. Yet here we have even less information to go on and a sense of mystery hangs above every work, it’s asking us to dive deeper into our imaginations and the next time we see someone sitting on a bench we won’t give them a passing glance but construct thoughts on what brought them here.
The same can be said about his works inspired by the natural world, such as the flower exhibited in a group show at Zari Gallery. It’s asking us to admire the detail of every petal as it overlaps, the colours and design exist to attract pollinators and to ensure it’s noticed among other flowers. Yet its beauty still appeals to us, is this a byproduct of evolution or is this something hardwired in us that we share with bees and butterflies?
Jiahe also sees a link between family and nature. There’s a reason we refer to the natural world as ‘mother nature’ as both provide us with a warm embrace that is timeless and away from the efficiencies and task-oriented nature of modern society.
Literature and film are inspirations for Jiahe and that’s evident in the floral painting he exhibited at Zari Gallery, where the black backdrop accentuates the details in the work and his figurative works that seem to be caught mid-stride and lit as you would expect them to be seen on screen.
Combining his eye for the often overlooked with presenting them in a cinematic style ensures that he presents the mundane in an eye-catching style and it would be great to see his work grow to cover wider topics, both figurative and capturing the natural world around us.
More information on Jiahe Liu may be found on his website.
