Katie Liu

Lagniappe

solo exhibition
May - August 2019, Duke University

Held at Duke University's Louise Jones Brown Art Gallery, I had a solo gallery exhibition titled "Lagniappe," creole meaning "a little something extra" for the duration of May - August 2019.

This gallery features a multitude of my 2-D and 3-D work split between a more conceptual side (left side of the gallery) and a more realistic side (right side).

Art catalog

Edifice

2016, linoleum block print, 3” x 5”

This piece is based on a building I saw while visiting a city wall built in Xi’an, China. I was drawn to the traditional architectural elements of the building and its prominence over the landscape. First, I explored the different textures of each layer and how they overlap. Then, I experimented with different color combinations. I particularly like this one because of the use of yellow and purple as contrasting supplementary colors. Also, I liked that the colors create a combination that is non-traditional in China but help form this rendering of a very traditional Chinese building.

Error

2018, oil on canvas, 16” x 20”

In this piece, I experimented with accidents and unexpected compositions. I purchased random photos from a used bookstore and collaged the backgrounds of them together. Not wanting the collage to be perfectly square or rectangular, I allowed the uneven edges from cutting the photographs to complete the composition. Next, I rendered the collage in oil by using different gestures and color combinations to highlight or de-emphasize elements, as well as allowing negative space to influence the composition.

Farmers Market

2018, acrylic on canvas, 12” x 14”

In this particular piece, I explored painting as an image-making strategy that sometimes, purposefully modifies reality. I painted the shadows and outline of the tarp in a bright shade of blue. Through placing this unrealistic, hyper blue tarp under the apples, I wanted to complement the bold, red hue, and push the viewer’s eye up to the apples. I used the contrast—both in style and color—of the tarp and apples to juxtapose them on each other.

Bus

2018, charcoal and acrylic, 12” x 9”

In this piece, I wanted to focus on developing contrast. This is a mixed-media piece of a public bus in Ningbo, China. I used contrasting colors of blue and yellow to juxtapose each other and create contrast. I also used charcoal for the people to further develop this contrast.

Cai

2018, watercolor on paper, 9” x 12”

In this piece, I wanted to try a more gestural painting style. I also wanted to mimic the Chinese ink wash painting style, especially on the buildings. Although black is usually a very stark color, I wanted to experiment with creating different textures and tones by using it for the majority of the piece.

Bluegrass

2017, acrylic on paper, 8” x 15”

This acrylic painting portrays John Dee Holeman, a bluegrass musician who often visits my high school. In this piece, I wanted to explore different styles of portrait painting. I used visible strokes and a skin tone palette that was not entirely realistic. With different stroke lengths such as the shorter ones on his face and longer ones on his arm, I also explored creating various textures. I painted him in this position for a non-conventional pose; I did not want a very poised portrait but rather something more natural.

Purple Hour

2018, acrylic, newspaper, and embroidery on canvas, 12” x 16”

In the piece, I combined acrylic painting with embroidery and newspaper collage. I wanted a very stark contrast to be created by the shadow on the girl’s face and the shadows on the jacket so I overemphasized the darkness of the color. I chose a purple hue for the shadow on her face, because I wanted it to relate to the shadows on the jacket. Using embroidery on the hat as well as on the jacket, I wanted to create texture as well as have the stitches act as shadows. The newspaper also acted as another element of texture to the piece. I chose newspaper over magazine to collage, because I felt multi-colored magazine would introduce colors not tied into the color scheme of the piece and distract too much in the background.

Plastic

2018, linoleum block print on rice paper, 10.5” x 22”

I aspired to use this piece as a commentary on the plastic waste problem in China. I chose a scene that I frequently see in China: workers on foot or with bicycles collecting overflowing amounts of plastic from mountain hotels. The industrialized hotels are contrasted with the natural environment around them. I chose to create a block print to mimic the production of plastic with the reproduction of prints. It is also printed on rice paper to further tie the piece to natural elements traditionally used in China.

Untitled

2018, mixed media, 12.5” x 20” x 5”

I started this piece by gutting a book and overlaying different sheets of wallpaper inside. I have created a slightly obscured image of a self-portrait by choosing wallpaper with various textures, patterns, and tones. Because I desired the overwhelming abundance of patterns instead of a clean white border, I also collaged wallpapers to border the image; I chose blue to contrast with the red tones of the wallpapers used in the face. I decided to display them in a tunnel book with an accordion binding to create depth through experimentation with different shadows and lighting.

Untitled

Home on the Mountain

2018, mixed media, 11” x 12” x 3”

This piece is based on a Chinese poem that translates to “Home on the Mountain.” I created a piece from the poem’s descriptions of the many unique characters who live in a house on the mountain. First, I explored using different materials, such as yarn, fabric, tape, and glue, as well as manipulating these materials by folding and overlapping them to create different textures on five collagraph plates. Then, I ran them through a press with silver to achieve the embossed look. I chose a doll bed frame to allude to the ideas of home and support present in the poem, although a bed is not directly mentioned. I explored different ways to display the five collagraph plates but ultimately decided to suspend three above the bed frame and attach two below for a more dynamic composition that makes the eye travel forwards and back

Home on the Mountain-Inkless

2018, inkless print on handmade paste paper, 10.25” x 13”

This piece includes two inkless prints created from the collagraph plates in the previous "Home on the Mountain" 3D piece. I ran the collagraph plates through a printing press with the moist paper to achieve this embossed look. I preferred the inkless prints because the depth and texture are seen through the shadows that are created. I mounted these prints on a paste paper background that I created myself. I chose to leave the raw edges on the prints because it ties in with the handmade, natural feel of the paste paper. For the paste paper, I used plastic pieces cut in different shapes and edges to carve different textures and shapes on the paper. This way I achieved a variety of line qualities and directions.

Marco

2018, watercolor on paper, 8.5” x 12”

In this piece, I wanted to focus on the cool architectural intricacies of the building. I used contrasting blue hues and orange hues. I tried to take a more minimalist, clean approach to this painting by focusing more on lines and shapes.

Untitled

2018, acrylic and pen on paper, 9” x 12”

In this piece, I wanted to experiment with contrasts between mediums. I chose to do the background in acrylic because I wanted to show the colors from lights lining the streets and illuminating into the trees. I did the people in pen and ink because I hoped I could get more intricacies in a mass of people through pen than acrylic.

Untitled

2018, watercolor and pen on paper, 11” x 14”

For this piece I focused a lot on line work. I free-handed the hatching and used only hatching in the background to focus on creating different values with line proximity. For the clothes of the people, I did do some cross-hatching. I also used watercolor for the hills in the back because I wanted to show the separation between nature and man-made with the contrast. Like nature, the watercolor is smoother and more organic. The pen and ink contrast this by being more rigid and structured, similar to how man-made structures are. Through this contrast, I wanted to show how man-made structures and industry are intruding into nature.

Error Series

2019

mixed-media series featuring mundane, broken bathroom appliances

Summer Street

2017, pen and ink on paper, 9” x 12”

Drawing with pen and ink was a new medium for me and I wanted to use this piece as an opportunity to explore using different techniques to create various values. I experimented with different hatching methods and line qualities. I chose to depict a street scene because I wanted to portray the everyday, common life that I saw in China, instead of tourist attractions or prominent locations.

Aleppo

2018, acrylic painting in an installation, 16” x 17” x 24”

I created this piece in response to the civil war in Aleppo. The acrylic painting in the back of the suitcase is of pre-civil war Aleppo and I collected rocks and rubble to fill the suitcase; I placed them so that they are overshadowing and obscuring parts of the painting in the back in order to juxtapose the beauty and culture of Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War with the destruction in the midst of the war. I also decided to use an old, beat-up suitcase as the vessel for this piece, because the civil war displaced millions of civilians, forcing them to relocate. This piece is installed in a hallway at my school because I wanted to bring attention to the issue in an intimate setting where students could easily view it.