[6 September 2010, Hong Kong] —10 Chancery Lane Gallery is happy to present the new works of Hung Liu with her series entitled Za Zhong (Bastard Paintings). The series of mixed media works are composed of many alternating layers of resin and oil-based pigment and present layers of imagery and painting in a glass-like resin finish that allows a greater vibrancy of colors to her paintings.
Liu has always delved into social, political, historical aspects of China's past regimes as "subject" for her works, using old photographs as source material. As a bi-cultural citizen, she is in a position to re-present and re-examine Chinese culture, past and present, while combining images from her own life experience. In her new works, Liu conveys the courage and strength of women.
Hung Liu invented this new approach to making works with master printer, David Salgado five years ago, creating a revolutionary visual language. The Za Zhongs are hybrids of the painting and printmaking processes. "Za Zhong" translates to English as hybrids, uncertain of their origins, or "Bastard Paintings."
Several works include an image of a beguiling young girl's face, each juxtaposed with a different array of Chinese historical images and painting motifs, as well as Liu's signature washes, drips, and her characteristic circles -- as spots of color throughout the composition and symbolic of the universe in Chinese iconography. The "Za Zhongs" with faces are related in sharing a "starter" image. Thereafter the pieces digress, and each takes on a life of its own. Glen Helfand quotes the artist in his catalogue essay: "Liu likens the process to collaborating with herself in a Za Zhong-like manner: The base image is the melody -- the improvisation occurs on top of that."
In a traditional print, all the layers (of whatever the media) are on top of one another. In Liu's Za Zhong pieces, each mounted in a wooden box; the layers are separated by 1/8 inch of resin. These works begin with a digital base image taken from the artist's own oeuvre, an iris print that is then coated with wax in the areas the artist wants to retain. The rest of the image is washed away with water. This allows Liu to redraw her image, alter it, and transform it from the original painting source, setting the stage for the subsequent layers of cast resin, painting (in oil or in ink), collage elements from historical sources or from the artist's own paintings.
About Hung Liu
Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948. She grew up in Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution where she worked with peasants in rice, wheat, and cornfields seven days a week. During this time she photographed local farmers with their families and also made drawings of them. In 1972 she entered the Revolutionary Entertainment Department of Beijing's Teachers College to study art and education. After graduating in 1975 she began teaching art at an elite Beijing school, Jing Shan, and also began to teach a program for children on television, "How to Draw and Paint," which lasted several years and was widely renowned. In 1979 she attended the Central Academy of Fine Arts where she majored in mural painting. In 1980 she applied to the visual arts program at the University of California, San Diego. After being accepted, it took Liu four years to obtain a passport from the Chinese government. She arrived in California in 1984.
Her work has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, Maryland; The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, California; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana; Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Santa Clara University, California; Monterey Museum of Art, California; Oakland Museum of California; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; San Jose Museum of Art, California; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Hung Liu's work is included in the collections of Boise Art Museum, Idaho; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York; City of San Jose, California; Crocker Art Museums of San Francisco, M.H. deYoung Memorial Museum, California; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California;, California; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Oakland Museum of California; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; San Jose Museum of Art, California; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. She was awarded a commission from the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, California.
The artist has twice received Painting Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts; Capp Street Project Stipend, California College of Arts & Crafts, San Francisco; Eureka Fellowship in Painting, The Fleishhacher Foundation, San Francisco, California; The Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters Sculptors Grant, New York; Russell Foundation Grant, University of California, San Diego. She has won the San Francisco Women's Center Humanities Award, California; Contemporary Art by Women of Color Artists' Award, Guadalupe Cultural Center, San Antonio, Texas and Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California. She has also received grants and scholarships from University of California, San Diego and Mills College, Oakland, California. In 2006 she completed a Public Art Installation at the Oakland International Airport, a three-year project entitled Going Away, Coming Home, a glass mural, which spans 160 feet.
Opening
10 Chancery Lane Gallery invites you to the opening reception on October 7 (Thurs), 6:30-8:30pm at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Central. To schedule interview or for more information please contact Celine Ho on 2810-0065 or email celine@10chancerylanegallery.com. The exhibition runs from Oct 7-30, 2010. Opening hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm.
