Widely regarded as one of China's most influential contemporary painters, Liu Xiaodong is renowned for his raw, emotionally charged depictions of real people in real places.

Working on location, from remote villages to rapidly changing city streets, Liu creates large, cinematic paintings brimming with empathy, tension and insight. Bringing together paintings, sketches, photographs and diary notes, this book offers the most comprehensive survey of Liu's process and vision yet. From Cuba to South Korea, the US, the UK, Greenland and beyond, Liu's itinerant practice maintains no fixed abode and instead embraces the wildly diverse geographies and peoples as encountered by the artist in his travels.

A vivid exploration of an artist who paints where life is unfolding, this is an essential volume for anyone interested in contemporary art, social realism and the power of painting that tells human stories.