ARTISTS
Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands
鈥淭he story of America as a destination for the homeless and hungry of the world is not only a myth. It is a story of desperation, of sadness, of uncertainty, of leaving your home. It is also a story of determination, and鈥攎ore than anything鈥攐f hope.鈥� Hung Liu, 2017
Hung Liu (b. 1948) is a contemporary Chinese American artist, whose multilayered paintings have established new frameworks for understanding portraiture in relation to time, memory, and history. Often sourcing her subjects from photographs, Liu elevates overlooked individuals by amplifying the stories of those who have historically been invisible or unheard. Having lived through war, political revolution, exile, and displacement, she offers a complex picture of an Asian Pacific American experience. Her portraits speak powerfully to those seeking a better life, in the United States and elsewhere. Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands will be the artist鈥檚 first major exhibition on the East Coast. This is also the first time that a museum will focus on Liu鈥檚 portraiture.
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鈥淭he story of America as a destination for the homeless and hungry of the world is not only a myth. It is a story of desperation, of sadness, of uncertainty, of leaving your home. It is also a story of determination, and鈥攎ore than anything鈥攐f hope.鈥� Hung Liu, 2017
Hung Liu (b. 1948) is a contemporary Chinese American artist, whose multilayered paintings have established new frameworks for understanding portraiture in relation to time, memory, and history. Often sourcing her subjects from photographs, Liu elevates overlooked individuals by amplifying the stories of those who have historically been invisible or unheard. Having lived through war, political revolution, exile, and displacement, she offers a complex picture of an Asian Pacific American experience. Her portraits speak powerfully to those seeking a better life, in the United States and elsewhere. Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands will be the artist鈥檚 first major exhibition on the East Coast. This is also the first time that a museum will focus on Liu鈥檚 portraiture.
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The Smithsonian鈥檚 National Portrait Gallery will present 鈥淗ung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands,鈥� the first retrospective of the artist鈥檚 portraiture and the first major presentation of her work on the East Coast.
In the late 1960s, as some Western artists and intellectuals flirted with Maoism, Hung Liu joined Mao鈥檚 Cultural Revolution 鈥� but not by choice.
For this large-scale retrospective of the Asian American artist, who died this summer, east meets west in an exquisite collision
The popular American immigration fantasy focuses on the positive. On the receiving end. On America鈥檚 welcoming arms for 鈥測our tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.鈥�
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