Liu Ye Bauhaus No. 8 (Triadisches Ballett), 2021

Liu Ye's Bauhaus No. 8 (Triadisches Ballett), in reference to the German artist Oskar Schlemmer’s iconic costume designs for his Triadic Ballet from the early 1920s, significantly expand the vocabulary of Liu Ye’s exploration of the Bauhaus curriculum. Taking Schlemmer’s drawings of the famous costumes made from colorful geometric shapes as point of departure, Liu Ye paints the figures in full color. The three doll-like figures in their fantastic costumes are set in a stage-like setting, an impression reinforced by a narrow band of red curtain framing the image on each side. The red curtains function both as a framing device and as self-referential nod to the longstanding recurrence of the motif in the artist’s oeuvre.