As a visual artist, I see art as a  way to overcome my inner fear and a process of self-healing. The  narrative impressions from my works are often inspired by the hidden  tension in daily lives or imaginative situation that are hinting a  subtle danger before it transforms to violence or other disruptive  outcome.

In my creation, I like to keep a  certain rawness by using ordinary materials such as pencil, charcoals,  ink and paper. I found that simple tones such as black and white  correspond more to what I want to achieve in my art, and to reflect a  stronger visual impact for the audience.

Liz shares these 5 collections of artwork in ubudeco.

“Heaven is a place on Earth”

This series was made during the time  my hometown went through a difficult period where smoke and tears became  part of the usual. I cropped and enlarged sections from newspaper  photographs and combined with the style of paintings in Song dynasty to  create a different point of view towards the unusual usual.

“Where should I go?”

Inspired by Eiko Otake, a  movement-based interdisciplinary artist, this series represents the  uncertainties of the relationship between my spirit and my body/ my home  / my city. Each piece reflects on one finger, but each of them carries  individual thoughts and characteristics.

Love Affair

Love is fragile. Shall we dance until the day I die?

Fictional Diaries series

“The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.” said Kundera.  As people gradually lose grip of the realness in life, their anchor to the reality loosens.  Yet, life always has its ways to weigh them down and drags them back to the ground again.  The two forces create a state one would experience in the Dead Sea, drifting one in and out of reality and fiction.  A question naturally comes to my mind – “Does reality ultimately lead us to the “truthfulness”?  Or is it only a collective speculation?” These thoughts have inspired me to create this series.  I associated my feelings with the promenade scenery I see every evening along Victoria Harbour: the strange faces shimmering in water reflection, and the distanced gaze making you feel uncomfortable are expressed and painted by engravings.

I chose monoprints instead of the traditional method of plural printmaking, aiming to make each painting a unique existence. Mixing the techniques of wiping, brushing and hand painting, I brought the uniqueness while capturing memory flashbacks of what I saw and heard at the waterfront, retaining the most truthful feelings and to increase the randomness, fortuity and surprise. The scene, communicated in a way imitating illustration storytelling, creates a mysterious narrative atmosphere, in which images have woven an oceanic story that has never ended.

昆德拉説:「負擔越重,我們的生命越貼近大地,它就越真切實在。」可是, 當生活上的真實感逐漸消失,人便彷彿失去了重量一樣,而現實的沉重則時刻提醒着人要回到地面,兩種拉力成全了如死海中漂 浮的處境,使我們游離於現實和虛構之間。這讓我不由得地考,現實終將帶我們往越「真」的方向,抑或只是一個集體的臆測?靈感啟發於此,我將自身的感受聯繫到每晚在維多利亞港海旁所見的風景: 一張張與水影重疊的陌生面龐、一個個帶距離感、讓人不適的凝視,並以版畫的方式演繹。

我選擇用獨幅版畫而非具有複數特性的傳統版畫方法,原因其一是讓每個圖像均為獨一無二的存在,通過抹、刷和畫筆繪畫来給予每幅畫獨特性,同時捕捉一閃而過的記憶碎片,留住當刻最真切的感覺。其二是增加畫面之隨機性,減少自身可控性,讓創作本身就如我在海傍的見聞——有趣的意外。畫面模仿故事插圖的傳達方式,製造出似是而非的敘事氛圍,讓圖像之間交織成大海裡一個不曾完整的故事。

Non-Scape

This series of artwork, inspired by societal observation, delineates the attitudinal divergence evolved from various stories and backgrounds, and the deep conflict triggered by the gaps and misconceptions amongst us that can’t be well explained by words. I hope to minimize the gaps by showing audiences my world in search of peace. Audience could possibly find emotional resonance, or get to know others’ thoughts, through observation — which is exactly the first step in understanding the universe.

“I first engraved some sky illustrations on a specially processed plastic matrix, and after the illustrations are printed and cut apart, they are reassembled into an entirely different picture. It is a monoprint in printmaking. Giving a hazy impression of Chinese paintings, these artworks emblematize my educational roots in western painting and printmaking, with all elements unintentionally coming together, defining a unique style of mine.”

非山此系列的作品源自於我在社會中觀察到不同人的經歷和背景所產生的不同理解，期間語言所不能填補的缺陷導致了深層次的交流決裂。我希望透過尋找自我世界裡的淨土，來縮小這條縫隙，觀眾或許在裡面也看到似曾相識的事物和風景，又或許能在圖像中展開對彼此的認識。「觀看」，恰恰便是人理解世界萬物的開端。 “我利用了獨幅版畫拼貼的方式，先在特製的膠板上描繪天空，印刷成畫後再剪成碎片，然後重新組合成陌生的風景。這些風景畫乍看之下像中國山水畫，裡面又滲透了我的西畫及版畫的學習背景，各種元素不經意地揉合，形成我的個人獨有的風格。”