Hung Liu

Haitang Gold (2010)
Mixed media on panel



Little Lama (2009)
Cotton Jacquard Tapestry


A Third World (1993)
Oil on Canvas, gold leaf on wood

Last Emperor (2009)
Cotton Jacquard Tapestry


White (2009)
Oil on Canvas


Hung Liu was born in China in 1948. Hung Liu lived in China during Mao's regime. Like many others in China at that time, she had to be re-educated and only draw art that glorified Mao's rule. Eventually, she and her family fled China from Mao's Communist rules. (The third painting in my list is about Communism and Capitalism.) During this time, Hung Liu became passionate about fading Emperor's sad expression and people's hopelessness. ( The fourth and second painting.) On July 1976, Hung Liu went back to China to paint landscapes and experienced the Sichuan Earthquake that killed 90,000 people. From this, Hung Liu was able to witness people's mourning, grieving, and many other vivid expressions. (The last paintinng from this experience.)

Chuck Close.

Brad Pitt, February 2009-Photograph on Crane Portfolio Rag Paper


George W. Bush, November 2004-Composite Photo
Emma, 2002- Japanese Style Woodcut


Kate #16, 2005- Pigment Print
Self Portrait, 1967-68- Oil on Canvas

"The remarkable career of artist Chuck Close extends beyond his completed works of art. More than just a painter, photographer, and printmaker, Close is a builder who, in his words, builds "painting experiences for the viewer." Highly renowned as a painter, Close is also a master printmaker, who has, over the course of more than 30 years, pushed the boundaries of traditional printmaking in remarkable ways.

Almost all of Close’s work is based on the use of a grid as an underlying basis for the representation of an image. This simple but surprisingly versatile structure provides the means for "a creative process that could be interrupted repeatedly without…damaging the final product, in which the segmented structure was never intended to be disguised." It is important to note that none of Close's images are created digitally or photo-mechanically. While it is tempting to read his gridded details as digital integers, all his work is made the old-fashioned way—by hand.

Close’s paintings are labor intensive and time consuming, and his prints are more so. While a painting can occupy Close for many months, it is not unusual for one print to take upward of two years to complete. Close has complete respect for, and trust in, the technical processes—and the collaboration with master printers—essential to the creation of his prints. The creative process is as important to Close as the finished product. "Process and collaboration" are two words that are essential to any conversation about Close’s prints. "

*Works Cited

-http://www.chuckclose.coe.uh.edu/life/index.html

Chuck Close: Man & His Life.

September 27, 2011

Hung Liu

Hung Liu

Da Hu- Big Tiger (2010)

Judgement of Paris (1992)

Profile II (2005)

Peach Blossoms (2007)

Sisters (2000)

Hung Liu (born February 17, 1948) in Changchun, China is a Chinese-American contemporary artist.

Hung Liu was born in the People's Republic, China and emigrated to the United States in 1984. She attended Beijing Teachers College in 1975 and studied mural painting as a graduate student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Her paintings and prints often make use of anonymous Chinese historical photographs, particularly those of women, children, refugees, and soldiers as subject matter. Liu's paintings - often large, drippy, and washed with layers of linseed oil - can be seen as critiques of the rigid academicism of the Chinese Socialist Realist style in which she was trained, as well as metaphors for the loss of historical memory. One of the first Chinese artists to study in the U.S., Liu's works represent the ongoing tension between emigration and immigration. Liu has received numerous awards, including two painting fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and her work is represented in the permanent collections of major museums and private collections throughout the United States and Asia.

(Kara Kelly Hallmark, Encyclopedia of Asian American Artists)

Guillermo Gomez Pena

Sin Titulo, 2005. Using the gun to capture the attention of the audience rather than the gender of the person.

Piedad Post-Colonial 2005. Depiction of Mercy.

New Barbarians, 2005. Creative depiction of North America.

Natural Born Matones, 2005. Women and men depicted as both equal and dangerous.

En El Hall Del Genocidio, 2006. Use of American, Hispanic and native apparel.

What intrigued me to showcase Guillermo Gomez Pena was his expression of his beliefs through photographs. Immigration plays a large role in his work and it is seen in a lot of his work including New Barbarians, above. Pena seeks to inform people about real, relevant issues through his work to uncover controversial areas and applies them in controversial photographs. The main scope of his focus looks on the relations between the United States and Mexico.

Pepón Osorio

Pepon Osorio, "Trials And Turbulence", 2004

Pepon Osorio, "En La Barberia No Se Llora" 1994

mixed media and a barber chair

Pepon Osorio, "Lonely Soul", 2008

mixed media

Pepon Osorio, "A Mis Adorables Hijas", 1990

mixed media

36x78x22 inches

Pepon Osorio, "My Beating Heart", 2002

made of fiber glass, archival paper, glue and a CD player.

5x5 ft

Pepon Osorio was born in Puerto Rico in 1955. He studied at Columbia University and graduated with a Masters degree in Fine Arts in 1985. In an article written about Pepon's life and art work, the writer wrote that "Pepon Osorio began exploring conceptual art through social work, community activism, painting and stage design. Mixing aspects of his Puerto Rican and New York experiences, his work emphasizes social justice, cultural history, and identity".

source: http://latino.si.edu/virtualgallery/ojos/bios/bios_Osorio.htm

Do Ho Suh

Fallen Star, 2008
"ABS, basswood, beech, ceramic, enamel paint, glass, honeycomb board, laquer paint, latex paint, LED lights, pinewood, plywood, resin, spruce, styrene, polycarbonate sheets, PVC sheets."
http://www.dezeen.com/2008/05/31/psycho-buildings-at-the-hayward/

Some/One, 2001
Thousands of nickel miltiary dog tags coming together to form a traditional Korean clothing.
http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/dohosuh.html

Reflection, 2005
"nylon fabric which are separated by a translucent fabric
‘floor’, appearing to be a reflection" from
http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/dohosuh.html

Public Figures, 2003
Cement pedestal turned upside down supported by miniature male and female plastic figurines.
http://www.publicartfund.org/pafweb/projects/03/metrotech/metrospective_suh_s03.html

"Floor" 2001
thick glass floor with thousands of tiny plastic human figures underneath
http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/dohosuh.html


Do-Ho Suh, from Seoul South Korea, was born in 1962. He earned BFA and MFA from Seoul National University, and fulfilled his required service in the South Korean military before coming to the USA and studying at Yale University. Suh is "best known for his intricate scultprues that defy conventional notions of scale and site-specificity," and draws attention to how public space is occupied (pbs.org/art21/artists/suh). Personally, I find Suh's work very interesting and meaningful because of the uniqueness involving personal and public space. In addition, his work involving a multitude of smaller pieces, such as figurines or dog tags, really stand out to be interpreted in many different ways. Reflecting on Asian culture and history, Suh's sculpture "Some/one" really stands out because of the mandatory military service of all the citizens. The individual dogtags coming together to only form one lonesome suit of armor can be interpreted to convey millions of lives for the sake of one; be it a leader, or perhaps a symbolic representation of the country as a whole. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy Suh's work for provoking thoughts about identity as an individual and as a whole!