I believe Lui Liu is not motivated by the erotic...He understands that nudes are symbols of Western oil paintings,but he is not satisfied with iconic symbols from a bygone era. He doesn’t want to repeat the nude traditions of the Renaissance and Baroque schools–the birth of Venus, the bathing Susanna, or the nymphs who dance with mythological beings. Like other post-Cultural Revolution artists, Lui Liu wants to create paintings that present the veneer of the Western world–just enough so that his Chinese identity is erased. At the same time he wants his paintings to be fresh and innovative.? In that regard, he is not unlike other contemporary Chinese Realist artists. If we understand this, then his timeless and borderless scenes, and his provocative and intricate plot are easier to explain, comprehend and appreciate. The nudes are intended to convey imagination, a sort of struggle. These painting do not point to any particular meanings or passion, but are intrinsically beautiful, technical and abstract efforts to create a series of hollow, splendid and self-proliferating illusions.

Then again, I might be wrong. Perhaps Lui really is trying to create dramas that derive from sexual fantasies. Then I believe it’s his technique that is connected with sexual fantasies. On the surface, as we have seen, these fantasies are all flesh and facial expressions. His every brush stroke portrays how he immerses himself in his talent? With his love of the act of painting and his wild imagination, Lui witnesses his own talents with delight and he proves that he is not just a Realist painter after all.
---Danqing Chen

The ambiguity frees Lui Liu from the Mother of his Invention, frees him so that he can stand alone facing east or west, as he chooses…

Lui Liu is at the center of this attempt to stake out an aesthetic that is an alternative to China's "official" art. He has turned to West with a vengeance, turned to our traditions for techniques, for icons, for attitudes of cynicism, irreverence and malaise. His use of Western icons is blatant, almost defiant. The range of his awareness is extraordinary, his mastery of painterly techniques compelling. But most important, it seems to me he understands the risks he's taking. He has heard his Mother of Invention (Imitation) licking her lips, and he has covered his tracks.? I'm sure his soft sleaze nudes are shocking in Beijing, but we can see that there is also a note of parody in his paintings… Lui Liu, has shown that he is prepared to risk kitsch but by rendering the risque as a joke on everybody, whether in Beijing or Boston, he has saved himself.
--- Barry Callaghan

The Oil Painting of Lui Liu
Preface 
Zhang Zikang

Mr. Liu’s paintings have been backed by his independent spirit and superb realist techniques to express his imagination.

However, the mastery of techniques is not his only pursuit. It’s the artistic language that he uses to explore cultural and human values. It involves the contemporary transformation of traditional realist paintings.?Therefore it’s not enough to just observe Lui Liu’s paintings from a realist perspective.?Because of his experiences of living in the West for nearly two decades, he has developed his own understanding of both Eastern and Western cultures.?His creative works are centered around such spirit of his character.?In different social contexts, his works always invites lively cultural discussions and resounds with the public.It’s safe to say that Lui Liu has successfully built a dynamic link between culture and art.
In his works, we often identify the characters’spiritual nature in abstract space and time.Lui Liu has wisely and skillfully combined traditional realist techniques and contemporary concepts to create a new art form. Through the classical colors of Western art, Lui Liu's paintings provide a rich aesthetic experience and tell brand new stories of modernity. His artistic experiments reveal the countless possibilities for the evolution and transformation of the Chinese oil painting. As a result, his audience is presented with a purified spiritual and artistic world that he alone has created.