Suspended Series 021 | LIU LIJUN

€0.00

Suspended Series 021 by Liu Lijun is a sculptural work that embodies tension, erosion, and transformation through material language. The piece unfolds as a suspended, organic structure, where layers of Chinese lacquer envelop and reveal an underlying core of ash and ramie, creating a dynamic dialogue between concealment and exposure.

Its form appears simultaneously fragile and resilient. The outer skin—dark, matte, and almost charred—folds and collapses into itself, while ruptures expose a textured interior rich in earthy tones. This contrast evokes a sense of temporal process, as if the sculpture were shaped by slow forces of compression, decay, and renewal.

Liu Lijun’s practice reinterprets traditional Chinese lacquer techniques within a contemporary sculptural context, pushing the material beyond its decorative origins into a field of conceptual and spatial exploration. In Suspended Series 021, lacquer becomes both surface and structure, mediating between control and unpredictability.

Artist: Liu Lijun
Dimensions: 130 × 70 × 65 cm
Materials: Chinese Lacquer, Ash, Ramie, Mixed media 
Year: 2024
Unique piece
Signed and certified by the artist

Suspended Series 021 by Liu Lijun is a sculptural work that embodies tension, erosion, and transformation through material language. The piece unfolds as a suspended, organic structure, where layers of Chinese lacquer envelop and reveal an underlying core of ash and ramie, creating a dynamic dialogue between concealment and exposure.

Its form appears simultaneously fragile and resilient. The outer skin—dark, matte, and almost charred—folds and collapses into itself, while ruptures expose a textured interior rich in earthy tones. This contrast evokes a sense of temporal process, as if the sculpture were shaped by slow forces of compression, decay, and renewal.

Liu Lijun’s practice reinterprets traditional Chinese lacquer techniques within a contemporary sculptural context, pushing the material beyond its decorative origins into a field of conceptual and spatial exploration. In Suspended Series 021, lacquer becomes both surface and structure, mediating between control and unpredictability.

Artist: Liu Lijun
Dimensions: 130 × 70 × 65 cm
Materials: Chinese Lacquer, Ash, Ramie, Mixed media 
Year: 2024
Unique piece
Signed and certified by the artist

About the artist

LIU LIJUN

Liu Lijun, born in Fuzhou, Fujian province in 1992, is a rising figure in contemporary lacquer installation art. She graduated from Minzu University of China in 2015 and is now based in Fuzhou, where she continues to develop a highly personal artistic language.

Liu’s work distills abstract symbols of industrial civilization, transforming them into sculptural forms that fold space and evoke hidden layers of experience. Her practice seeks to unearth the complex relationships between the contemporary era and human emotions, resulting in works defined by tension, contrast, and contradiction.

In her recent series, Liu moves beyond the rigid surfaces of earlier works to expose fragile, wound-like edges—sensitive and vulnerable, yet resonant with inner strength. These forms are self-contained but operate like Möbius strips, where inside and outside, surface and depth, continually exchange roles in a shifting dialectic.

Her process combines a sensitivity to material with a strong conceptual drive. By embracing lacquer’s inherent tactility, luster, and depth, she creates installations that challenge the viewer’s perception of space and body, evoking collective memory and lived experience through abstract form.

Liu has presented her work in significant contemporary Chinese lacquer exhibitions and cultural forums in China and internationally, including recent projects such as Touch the Future and Dispersion: Contemporary Chinese Lacquer Art Exhibition. Her practice positions her among a new generation of artists redefining lacquer as a medium not of ornament, but of presence, vulnerability, and poetic force in the 21st century.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST