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Ma Liuming

born 1969

Fen Ma Liuming’s Lunch II 1994
© Ma Liuming
License this image
In Tate Modern

Performer and Participant

Free
In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

4 artworks by Ma Liuming
View by Appointment

Biography

Ma Liuming (Chinese: 马六明, born 1969 in Huangshi, Hubei province) is a contemporary Chinese painter active in performance art. He is known most of all for his exploration of the power and poetry of public nudity in China, where such behavior was strictly forbidden. As a result, he has been the target of government censorship, unable to perform in his own country for most of his career.

In 1981, Ma Liuming started to study oil painting with tutor Cai Erhe. He graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in 1991 (MFA) in the Oil Painting Department. Two years later, he was one of the founders of Beijing East Village, an artists colony on the outskirts of Beijing. In the early 1990s it became a nexus for experimental art forms. One of Ma Liuming's first performances was called "Fen-Ma Liuming's Lunch 1", a collaboration with Zhang Huan and Zhu Ming in 1994. He sat, completely nude, sucking a plastic tube that was attached to his penis. In 1994 Ma Liuming was arrested for a period of two months because of works like this. Many of the artists of the Beijing East Village fled in response to this police action.

In order to match his own uniquely androgynous appearance Ma Liuming developed his own performance persona – Fen-Ma Liuming, a hybrid figure of male and female components.

Next to performances painting is a key component in his works. Since 2000, he has developed his "Baby series", in which the face of Fen-Ma Liuming appears on infant's bodies. It is a surrealistic image that is both disturbing and laughable. Through different mediums such as performance, painting and photography Ma Liuming continues to investigate the limits of provocation, seducing his audience into considering more intriguing matters.

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Performance art

Artworks

Left Right
  • Fen Ma Liuming

    Ma Liuming
    1993
    On display at Tate Modern part of Performer and Participant
  • Fen Ma Liuming

    Ma Liuming
    1993
    View by appointment
  • Fen Ma Liuming’s Lunch I

    Ma Liuming
    1994
    On display at Tate Modern part of Performer and Participant
  • Fen Ma Liuming’s Lunch I

    Ma Liuming
    1994
    View by appointment
  • Fen Ma Liuming’s Lunch II

    Ma Liuming
    1994
    View by appointment
  • Fen Ma Liuming’s Lunch II

    Ma Liuming
    1994
    View by appointment
Artwork
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