Nian Liu – Anniversary Art Exhibtion

• Artist Portfolio Magazine
• Nian Liu – Los Angeles, CA

I like to change things and reimagine things that normally would be overlooked. A part of me likes to do this because it gives me back a sense of wonder and mystery. This is reflective in my art where I want to take something familiar in the form of photography (a copy of a moment in the real world) and apply the color composition you see. The importance is in the color and form composition, not just colors. When I create, I see each piece as a whole instead of a meandering path of the eye “led” by traditional composition. Even when the eye is focus on one point, you must be aware of the entirety of the piece with your peripheral. It is almost a complete envelopment of the created world into my surroundings and I love this sense of surrounding.

I feel like most of my pieces do not have much meaning and also have meaning but I do not know what it is. It is almost like staring at a religious figurine or a visit to a temple. I may superimpose some sort of meaning after the fact of creation but there was no intention or little at point of creation. A prime example is my self portrait, the three dark figures behind could be representational of my grandma and uncle who passed away but I do not know who the third figure is. At the point of creation, I felt that those three figures belong there and taken as a whole, I felt it was a very balanced representation of me. There are certain items that I can say was intentional. The yellow clothing represents my desire to be successful and the blue, my depressive state at the time. Other than that, I do not know why I have red circles under my feet or why the wall/air continues to the ground or why it is so porous. Maybe it represents my fears of stability, where things may fall through at anytime. It certainly makes sense but I am not certain as that was not intentional.