Currently living and working in New York City, Lucy Liu’s artistic practice spans painting, sculpture, collage, silkscreen, and installation. Her first solo exhibition, Unraveling (1993), was held at Cast Iron Gallery in New York, featuring photography and earning her a grant to study at Beijing Normal University. Liu found this period in China to be extremely valuable, not only as an opportunity to learn more about her Chinese heritage, but also to expand her understanding of the symbolic potential of art. The trip became the subject of her next body of work, which was showcased as a solo exhibition (Catapult) at Los Angeles’ Purple Gallery in 1997. Liu remained in Los Angeles for several years, during which time she continued to work in collage and photographic portraiture. She returned to New York City in 2004, enrolling in painting classes at the New York Studio School from 2004-2007.
Liu’s artwork is invariably concerned with notions of security, salvation, and the long-term effects of personal relationships on our physical and emotional selves. She addresses these themes in painting, sculpture, collage, silkscreen, and the appropriation of discarded objects, which Liu recontextualizes in handmade constructions that function as reliquaries.
Her work has been featured in numerous gallery exhibitions and international art fairs, displayed in both private and corporate collections. Her most recent solo exhibitions include what was, New York Studio School, New York, NY (2023), One of These Things Is Not Like the Others, Napa Valley Museum Yountville, Yountville, CA (2020), and Unhomed Belongings, National Museum of Singapore (2019).
