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Credit: Gift of Dato' Kho Hui Meng 2017, Collection of SMU

Liu Kun (b. 1968, Beijing, China) graduated from the Central Academy of Art and Design in 1992. He has always been interested in using humour and absurdity in depicting the challenges of everyday life.

Over the years Liu Kun has developed his own highly distinctive style in which he depicts figures, often resembling the artist himself, against a plain monochrome background. The figures only take up a small portion of the large canvas, which gives us a sense of distance and detachment from the subject matter. At the same time, we are drawn into the canvas by the expressions and subtle humour displayed by the characters and their situations. Liu revels in the absurdity of modern urban life and his characters seem to hover in a dream-like state. They are lost in reality, and yet display quite real and tangible emotions.

Liu is never overt or garish. Situations and experiences are alluded to or inferred, using cultural symbols as props. Life's experiences are portrayed as absurd, mysterious and unfathomable and yet at the same time we can still relate to them, and empathise with the characters.