"Utopia No. 4" (2012) is a stunning oval-shaped oil painting by famous Chinese Contemporary artist, Shi Lifeng, that belongs to his new and highly important “Utopia” Series of visually arresting realist paintings and sculptures that marks a major, new direction in the artist's oeuvre. Amidst glorious flowers in full bloom, Shi Lifeng’s iconic, bright-red miniature figures, whom always represent China in his paintings, gather together in a red boat, happily setting sail towards China’s future, one full of potential, peace and prosperity, upon cotton-candy clouds with blue skies to their backs surrounded by garlands of flowers in full bloom.

The "Utopia" Series marks a major new direction in Shi's oeuvre, as here for the first time, Shi sheds his intense black and red color palette and the serious Mao-era cultural references that defined his work for the past decade. Now Shi's paintings reflect the present state of relative peace and prosperity that China as a country, as well as its individuals, are experiencing. In turn, Shi's new large-scale surreal dream-scapes employ flowers, rolling rivers, and beams of sun-light as visual metaphors to express a new ideology and attitude towards his country.

Shi Lifeng is one of the most famous artists of his 1960's generation of 'Chinese Avant Garde' artists and has exhibited at the world's top international Museums and Galleries such as the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Yang Gallery (Singapore), and Beijing Contemporary Art Museum (Beijing, China), among others. Shi Lifeng graduated in 1991 from the Hebei Normal University, Hebei Province, China with a Degree in Painting. The artist lives and works in Beijing, China.