Oakland, CA - Mills College art professor Hung Liu will exhibit new work in a show entitled “ZZ (Bastard Paintings)” at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery (New York City), May 24–July 5, 2007. A catalog accompanying the exhibition will feature essays by Meredith Tromble and Glen Helfand, art critics, and David Salgado, master printer at Trillium Graphics.

Following a 2005 introductory exhibition of Liu’s innovative mixed-media works, “ZZ (Bastard Paintings)” highlights her new work during the past two years. The new ZZs—equal in importance to her paintings—are monumental in scale and ambition; the more candid, commonplace subject matter evokes social and political undertones, and the new ZZs are more technically complex as they press into themselves additional layers of imagery, exotic materials, vibrant colors, and painted passages that suggest a liberation of the artist’s hand.

Liu has always delved into the social, political, and historical aspects of China’s regimes as “subject” for her works, using old photographs as source material. With her bi-cultural experience, she represents and re-examines Chinese culture, past and present, while combining images from her own life.

Liu’s new work conveys the courage and strength of women in “The Warriors,” a three-panel piece depicting three Chinese warriors from the The Red Detachment of Women army. In front of the warriors float cherry blossoms of a tree whose branches stretch out left and right, springing from the central panel.  Each holding a rifle, each steadfast, each undaunted in the face of battle, the three women are joined together in force as in beauty.

Liu invented this new approach to making works with master printer David Salgado five years ago, creating a revolutionary visual language. The ZZs combine painting and printmaking processes; “Za Zhong,” translates to English as hybrid, uncertain of its origins, or “Bastard Painting.”

Several works include an image of a beguiling young girl’s face juxtaposed with a different array of Chinese historical images and painting motifs, as well as Liu’s signature washes, drips, and circles as spots of color throughout the composition, symbolic of the universe in Chinese iconography.

According to Glen Helfand in his catalog essay, “Liu likens the process to collaborating with herself in a jazz-like manner: the base image is the melody—the improvisation occurs on top of that.”

Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948 and grew up in Beijing during the time of Mao Tse-tung. After finishing high school in 1968, she was sent to the countryside for four years during the Cultural Revolution where she worked with peasants in rice, wheat, and cornfields seven days a week. During that time, she photographed local farmers with their families, and made drawings of them.

In 1972, she entered the Revolutionary Entertainment Department of Beijing’s Teachers College to study art and education. After graduating in 1975, she began teaching art at an elite Beijing school, and also taught a children’s program on television, “How to Draw and Paint,” which was renowned and aired for several years. In 1979, she attended the Central Academy of Fine Arts where she majored in mural painting, and in I980, she applied to the visual arts program at the University of California, San Diego.  After being accepted, Liu worked for four years to obtain a passport from the Chinese government. She arrived in California in 1984.

Liu’s work has been shown at numerous museums throughout the country and is included in major collections nationwide. She has received two painting fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in addition to many other grants and awards.

Last year, Liu completed a major public art installation, “Going Away, Coming Home,” a 160-foot glass mural permanently displayed at the Oakland International Airport. 

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently recognized as one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills currently ranks among the top 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The New York Times recently selected Mills as one of three leading California colleges for students to consider.

In 2006, the Washington Monthly College Rankings named Mills a leading liberal arts college based on community service, research spending, quality of preparation for graduate education, and social mobility. In addition, The Princeton Review’s annual guide, the Best 361 Colleges (2007) included Mills for the second year in a row among top U.S. institutions offering students an outstanding undergraduate education.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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Deborah Dallinger
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925.788.9131