刘虹此次在ALEXANDER OCHS画廊北京空间展出的作品全部以"惊蛰"为题，以人们为了从梦境、记忆、思想中觉醒所做的这种奋争为表述对象。惊蛰是中国的传统节令，为期两周，在这段时间里，万物复苏，各种昆虫都从冬眠中苏醒过来。然而，在刘虹的油画作品中，这种苏醒的过程并非总是纯然天成--而是缓慢而断续的，仿若困陷挣扎于梦境与现实之间。在融合了中国历史照片与传统绘画的图像基础上，作品指出，古代与现代，乌托邦与恐怖主义，静止与死亡，以及无声与惊雷之间的差异，其实不过有如隔着一层薄纱罢了。小女生们惊恐的捂住耳朵，可能是因为平地惊雷--也可能是因为枪炮轰隆。昆虫可能是在她们身边蹁跹飞舞--也可能是一场恐怖的空袭。那群白鹤可能是在欢欣鼓舞--也可能是四散惊逃。静谧的风景描述的可能是远古的天堂--也可能是死寂的幻象。死去的禽鸟可能是表达了静止的生命--也可能是从中国的天空跌落下来的亿万麻雀之一。在刘虹的此次展览中，惊蛰这一主题将振聋发聩，在人们的脑海中，历史轰然袭来。

刘虹于1948年生于成都，是在毛泽东那个时代长大的一代人。最初接收的绘画教育都是社会主义现实主义风格的东西。从中央美院壁画系拿到学士学位后，1984年移民到美国，就读于圣地亚哥，加利福尼亚大学。现定居于加州奥克兰市，就任米尔斯学院艺术系终身制教授。

——杰夫·凯利

Hung Liu's new paintings at ALEXANDER OCHS GALLERY BEIJING, collectively titled First Spring Thunder, revolve around the idea of a struggle to awaken in a dream, in memory, in the mind. Traditionally, the first spring thunder is a two-week season in China during which the insects awaken from their winter dormancy. The world is asleep and then it begins to wake up. In Liu's paintings, however, that waking is not always innocent - it is slow and fitful, as if caught between life and a dream of life. Based on imagery from a combination of Chinese historical photographs and traditional paintings, these works suggest that the difference between antiquity and modernity, utopia and terror, stillness and death, and silence and thunder is very thin, like a veil. Schoolgirls could be covering their ears from the rumble of thunder - or from the guns of war. Flying insects might be dancing all around them - or attacking like military aircraft. A flock of white cranes may be exulting in flight - or scattering at the sound of danger. A serene landscape invokes an ancient paradise - or a frozen fantasy. A dead bird can be seen as a still life - or a sparrow (one of millions) that fell from the Chinese sky. In Liu's new exhibition, the idea of first spring thunder rumbles like history through the Chinese mind.

Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948, growing up during the Mao era. Initially trained in the Socialist Realist style, Liu studied mural painting as a graduate student at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, before immigrating to the US in 1984 to attend the University of California, San Diego. She currently lives in Oakland, California, and is a tenured professor in the art department at Mills College.

——Jeff Kelley