We are deeply saddened that Hung Liu died August 7th, 2021.
Hung made many prints with us at Shark’s Ink. She was a joy to have in the studio with her jokes and stories. On her first visit she called Bud the “monster printer”- the Master printer. She helped create the “little red book of “budisms”, a compilation of goofy sayings. She made beautiful prints. We have many memories of good times in the studio and around the dinner table. We miss her, dearly.
Hung Liu grew up in China and came of age during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. She spent four years in the countryside as a laborer, studied painting at the Central Academy of Art and in 1984 received permission to attend the University of California-San Diego where she earned an M.F.A.
Known for paintings based on historical Chinese photographs, Hung Liu’s subjects over the years have been prostitutes, refugees, street performers, soldiers, laborers, and prisoners, among others. With these anonymous photographs she summons the ghosts of history into the present.
A retrospective of Hung’s work at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC will open on September 24th, 2021. Hung exhibited her work widely including the exhibition Hung Liu: A Ten Year Survey 1988-1998 that traveled to six US venues in 1998-2000. A retrospective of Liu’s work, “Summoning Ghosts: The Art and Life of Hung Liu,” organized by the Oakland Museum of California and toured nationally through 2015. She completed many public commissions and received many awards including the National Endowment for the Arts, and the International Art Critic’s Award. She was a Professor Emerita at Mills College.
Her work is in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, TX; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; the San Jose Museum of Art, CA; the City University of New York; and the University of Arizona Art Museum, Tucson and many others.
To view or download a complete biography, please click here
More information can be found at Hung Liu’s website, www.hungliu.com.
