Guest Lecture: Hung Liu?Summoning Ghosts

One of the first Chinese artists to study in the United States, Hung Liu is widely regarded for a vast and innovative body of highly evocative paintings, murals, drawings, printmaking and installation. Characterized by the expressive, painterly effects of Western Modernism and Chinese decorative motifs, her work is richly layered. She frequently references anonymous historical photographs of China and, with deft technique, breathes new life into individuals lost in the sweep of history, particularly Chinese women, children, refugees, peasants, prostitutes and soldiers. In essence, Liu turns old photographs into new paintings, liberated from the rigid methodology of socialist realism—the style in which she was trained—by merging both Eastern and Western traditions. Over the years Liu has incorporated more and more paint drips into her work, achieved by thinning the pigments with linseed oil. Gravity, her ?sacred collaborator,? pulls the paint downward and divides the composition in interesting, unpredictable ways. This effect simultaneously unifies and dissolves the photo-based imagery, suggesting the passage of memory into history.

Admission/Cost: FREE

Location:
Warren Lecture Hall 2005
UC San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093

Thursday March 1 - 5:00 PM

For more information, please call: (858) 822-7755 or visit: www.ucsd.com