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Liu Youju (born in 1955, Jiexi, Guangdong, China) is a contemporary Chinese art critic, calligrapher, avant-garde artist, and practitioner of "illusionist painting". [1]
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In his early years, he was engaged in poetry, prose, and literary criticism. Some of his poems were included in the Selection of Contemporary Poems by A Thousand of Authors (Chinese: "當代千家詩選粹"). [2]
In 2011, he left the Chinese Calligrapher's Association [3] and later founded illusionist painting. [4] His illusionist paintings have been exhibited at the Nixon Presidential Museum in the U.S., [5] the British Museum, [6] the Louvre Museum of Art in France, [7] and the art gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze) in Italy. [8]
In 2016, Liu organized a personal workshop on his personal artworks at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence. [9]
In 2017, a solo art exhibition was held at Centre Georges-Pompidou, and a speech was delivered during an art research seminar at the same center. [10]
In 2019, the Guangdong artist Liu Youju was awarded the Michelangelo Prize, making him the first Chinese artist to receive this honor in the field of painting. [11]
In 2021, Liu Youju's inauguration ceremony as an honorary fellow of the Italian Academy of Art took place in Florence. [11]
In April 2024, Liu Youju's work "Mars Program" was selected for the 60th Venice Biennale and was exhibited at the official exhibition hall of the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Dona dalle Rose.
From July 15th to August 15th, 2024, Liu Youju's solo painting exhibition "Starting From The Metapoint" was held in Palazzo Dona dalle Rose, the official venue of the Venice Biennale in Italy. [12]
In 2025, Liu Youju's solo painting exhibition "Bounded and Unbounded" and his solo works symposium were held at the Galleria Nazionale d 'arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, Italy. [13]