Chinese-American artist Jesse Liu has quickly become one of the most in-demand visual artists on the West Coast, most recently opening her first Los Angeles solo-exhibit to over half her collection pre-sold beforehand.
Her mesmerizing paintings are illusionary – blending together her imagined world with small fragments of her personal memories and emotions. The inspiration for each work comes from a fascination with the concept of memory, itself a product of subjective consciousness – memories are more about recording emotions at a specific moment rather than an object fact. When she paints, she connects her reflected moments to the present day. People who are lost in one reality appear in this painted one, longing or playing, hiding or seeking, uncomfortable or blissful.
All of her paintings are of women, showing their mysterious sides in different environments and postures, while also highlighting their relationships with eachother. She primarily works with oil on canvas because it holds and stores and layers something important to her with each brush stroke.
When I painted my fragmented memories onto canvas, they became more vivid and realistic in our physical reality, no longer just a blur in my mind.” Each painting has a different palette corresponding to the atmosphere I felt and then feel in the work. When I paint, I’m rejoining moments in a present way. People who are lost in one reality appear in this painted one, lounging or playing, hiding or seeking. – Jesse Liu
Growing up in Beijing, China, Liu moved to South Carolina for high school, and then graduated from the School of Visual arts, majoring in illustration. What interested her most was how to tell stories through visual representation which ultimately led her to finding her passion in painting allowing her free reign to express her emotions and inner world. As a person who is not good at expressing herself in words, painting became a bridge for her to communicate with the outside world.
What’s in the future for Jesse? She plans to continue to push herself beyond her limits, exploring new avenues of artistic expression, and seeking out more opportunities to showcase her work.
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