Hung Liu

Hung Liu’s Relic 12 (fig. 81), Virgin/Vessel (fig.82), and Three Fujins (fig. 83) all address concerns related to both gender and social status.  Liu presents a seemingly contradictory union of classical and expressive line within one composition to evoke a sense of journalistic presentation and subjective interpretation at the same time.  Discuss this contradictory line usage, along with the biography of Liu, as you think of the artist’s desire to present her personal feelings about her heritage.  How does her expressive use of drips add to the emotional and/or aesthetic impact of her work.  Communicate your understanding of the power of the elements of art as essential components in presenting an artist’s idea.

Hung Liu is a Chinese-born American contemporary artist.  She was born February 17, 1948.  She immigrated from China to the United States in 1984, at the age of 36.  In 1975, she went to Beijing Teachers College. 

At the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, she studied mural painting as a graduate student.  Her paintings and photographs are typically based off of anonymous historical Chinese photographs.  Usually 

women, children, refugees, and soldiers,  Her paintings are usually drip-ish.  Currently, she is a professor of painting at Mills College in Oakland, California.  

I had read that Hung Liu used the controlled lines as a symbol of power.  Also, that she used the drips to represent freedom and liberation.  Her paintings show momentin history and other things that intrigue her.  

I feel like she broke through the border lines with her art work.  She does not have one type of work.  Her art work is messy and strict in a good way.  In the third painting the drips and colors bring almost a weary 

vibe.  In the first painting the drips and colors show more beauty and cheerfulness.  I know I can be completely wrong on those guesses, but that is what I see.  The middle picture I do not understand.  I feel no vibe

to it.  I tried to figure it out, but I can not.  The drips make it look like it is harder to paint.  Because you need percision and time to get it just right.  That way it does not look sloppy.  The woman in Relic looks bold.

Not happy, but determined to be seen and understood.  The woman in Virgin/Vessel looks blank.  I see no emotion in her face.  And the women in Three Fujins have different facial expressions.  The first looks 

miserable.  The second angry, and the third happy.  I am not ure who these women are and what they represent.  But in my eyes it looks like a depressing painting.