Wen Liu

Foundation / 11. 2015
latex, reclaimed furniture, bronze, stoo – 30 x 20 x 35 in.

My art explores the roots of my pain and feelings of estrangement growing up– questioning identities between two cultures. My generation grew up in a transitional period during 1980’s China; the effects of the second Open Door Policy invited Western culture into a traditional, conservative Eastern one. The generational gap between our parents and us children widened. We emphasized Christmas and downplayed the Lunar New Year Festival. This new confluence is all we knew. I went back and forth between my Eastern roots and Western inroad. The searching left me feeling alienated and confused. I couldn’t identify with my parents’ inability to communicate affection.

I exploit the character of my materials and become familiar with their qualities, limitations, and idiosyncrasies. Finding materials already saturated with meaning and memory is an important goal of my art-making. My work enables me to deconstruct my perception of complex interpersonal relationships and reconstruct into universal struggles and complexities.