Liu Xiaodong’s figurative painting practice is characterised by the depiction of unconventional figures affected by the mundane realities of everyday life. A significant proponent of the neo-realist movement that emerged as part of a broad swathe of artistic developments in the early 1990s, Liu disassociated himself from the idealism of earlier periods that sought to create a heroic or distinctively modern Chinese aesthetic. Concerned instead with reflecting the realities faced by individuals as China integrated into a globalised economy, Liu introduced a subtle irreverence in his figurative painting. 

Smoker 1988 depicts a young Beijing film director sharing a cigarette with an older worker. Painted in close perspective, the young director is tainted by the vanity of the emerging elite, in stark contrast with the plain features of the old worker, who is consigned to the background and carries with him the burdens of both age and conformity. Smoker sees the aspirations of youth, hungry for individuality and consumer power, already corrupted by this potential.