[Photo By Zhang Wei/China Daily]

Dong, another documentary Jia produced recording Liu's creation process, was also nominated for the Golden Lion Award.

"Liu is a very unique artist. He is a conceptual artist rather than a painter. The issues he talks about are not only the ones China faces. The problems of migration, minorities, women and urbanization, they are issues facing the world," says Jerome Sans, the show curator.

He met Liu in 2008 and that started their cooperation.

Sans says each of Liu's projects takes two to three months, so the number of works he produces every year is small compared to other artists.

"Two projects a year. That's the best working pace for me. After months of painting, I have to return to my life and think for months, and then start again," says Liu.

Usually, he paints three to four large pictures in one project.

Liu's work Disobeying the Rules, depicting a group of naked workers on a truck, was sold for $8.5 million at Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong last October.

Before that, some of his works had already fetched millions of dollars at auction houses in China.