This is to let you know that Hung Liu will have a show entitled "Za Zhong(Bastard Paintings)" at Nancy Hoffman Gallery from May 24-July 3, 2007. A catalogue accompanies the exhibition with essays by critics Meredith Tromble and Glen Helfand, and by David Salgado of Trillium Graphics.

Following a 2005 introductory exhibition of these innovative, mixed-media works composed of many alternating layers of resin and oil-based pigment, "Za Zhong (Bastard Paintings)" highlights the fruits of Liu's labor over the past two years. The new Za Zhongs – equal in importance to her paintings – are monumental in scale and ambition; the more candid, commonplace subject matter is ripe with social and political undertones, and the new Za Zhongs are more technically complex as they press into themselves additional layers of imagery, exotic materials (such as silk and gold leaf), vibrant colors, and painted passages that truly suggest a liberation of the artist's hand.

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 in The Warriors, a three panel piece depicting three Chinese warriors from the "x " Army, each holding a rifle, each steadfast, each undaunted in the face of battle. In front of the warriors float cherry blossoms on the branch of a tree; the branches stretch out left and right, springing from the central panel, the three women are joined together in force as in beauty.

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. Zza Zhong or "Za Zhong," translates to English as hybrids, uncertain of their origins, or "Bastard Paintings." In "Fall Wedding," for example, a work created in six sections, measuring 66 x 96 inches, Liu had in mind 9/11, not as an overt theme, but as an underlying wave of emotion. A young innocent bride in red—the Chinese color for celebration—wears an elaborate headdress as a ghost-like white bird encircles her neck, the head emerging from the bride's collar. Intense in color and impact, the central area with bride is flanked on each side by writing in ancient Chinese characters, veiled in layers of pearlescent white, words and meaning lost forever.

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 jaZa 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.

Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948. She grew up in Beijing during the time of Mao Tse-tung. After finishing high school in 1968 she was sent to the countryside for four years 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.

The artist has never shied away from the social, political, or philosophical implications of China's past regimes. As a bi-cultural citizen, she is in a position to re-present and re-examine Chinese culture, past and present, while she combines images from her own life experience.

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.

For further information and/or photographs please call 212-966-6676 or e-mail Nancy Hoffman Gallery at info@nancyhoffmangallery.com.

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Hung Liu Biography

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