HUNG LIU

July 10 - September 27, 2020

Hung Liu: The Long Way Home is a solo exhibition of the recent work of Chinese-born American contemporary artist, Hung Liu in a variety of media including mixed media, resin, tapestry, oil and works on paper. Hung Liu is known for masterful recreations of historical Chinese photographs. Her subjects over the years have been Chinese refugees, street performers, soldiers, laborers, and prisoners, among others. Liu challenges the documentary authority of the appropriated photographs by reconstructing the narrative through a variety of media. Liu’s initial training in the Socialist Realist style of the Maoist regime is evident in the figures borrowed from the past and presented in a style that resonates with a narrative that is personal as well as universal. The expressive quality of Liu’s artwork is derived from layers of wash that frequently dissolves the original intent of documentary images, suggesting the passage of memory into history, while working to reveal the cultural and personal circumstances of the subjects. Liu studied mural painting as a graduate student at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, and in 1984 fled the Maoist regime and immigrated to the US. This exhibition is organized in collaboration with Judy Deaton, Curator of The Grace Museum, Abilene, TX and Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.