"The Distant Dream" (2012) is a stunning example of the large scale Contemporary-Realist paintings that make Chinese emerging female artist Liu Chenyang a rising star in her native China, Asia and throughout Europe. In "The Distant Dream she creates a dream-like narrative that includes young women in relationship to animals, painted with broad brush-strokes of flat color and in a tranquil palette that underscores the feeling of dusk, a time of day underscored by the flight of the owl through the scene. The only real sense of movement in this otherwise placid and is in fact this owl captured mid-flight in peripheral view with a mouse clutched in its talons. Two beautiful young women stand poised and calm stroking a white cat held in the arms of one of the girls. Their presence in this otherworldly locale though feels completely natural. The paintings of Liu are almost impossibly quiet, intentionally adding a necessary emotional weight to the works.

Liu's break from the popular trend in Chinese Contemporary Art to paint in a photorealistic manner is underscored by her major works such as "Come With Me", as well as her aversion to the neon and day-glow colors that are included in the paintings of her contemporaries. The Western influence on her painting manner is evident, and there is a hint of Folk and/or Outsider Art in the way in which she depicts her subjects. Even at her young age, the artist has already exhibited in museums and exhibitions world-wide, including a 2009 solo show at Three Ravens Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, as well as an exhibition in Toronto, Canada, the Guangxi Museum in Nanning, China, and many others throughout China. In 2010 Liu's paintings were featured in "Existence·Harmony·Good", at The Shanghai World Expo China Art Exhibition, as well as at "The 1st Annual Beijing Art Gathering", Jinbaohui Art Center, Beijing, China.