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Marvel
and Reflection: Paintings and Prints by Shiou-Ping Liao
Early in his career, Shiou-Ping Liao's
chosen artistic motif was the gate, sign of promise and challenge. Gates unlock new
worlds. Closed, they elicit curiosity, for beyond lies mystery and adventure. Open, they
invite us to enter, yet, at the same time, compel us to leave. Crossing a threshold always
implies a greeting and a farewell.
Gates had a personal meaning to Liao as
well. As a child in Taiwan, he lived close to a Buddhist temple. Behind its double doors
vas a marvelous world, full of colors, noises, and smells. Gilded and multi-colored
statues shimmered in the half-dark of the temple interior. The sound of temple bells
mingled with the soft clicking of the augury sticks hitting the ground. The smell of
incense filled the courtyard. Inside the gate, vendors sold joss paper, printed with
mysterious symbols in red and gold.
These impressions, Liao carried with him as
he moved, first to Paris, then to Japan, and the United States. The further he moved away
from home, the more meaningful the gate and the symbols became. Indeed, throughout 1970s
and 1980s, these motifs served as pretexts for the artist's constant experimentation with
new forms, media and techniques. As he opened ever new doors on life and on art, it were
the memories of his childhood that lent him confidence and stability.
From the early 1990s onward, Liao abandoned
gates and symbols for still lives composed of teapots, wine bottles, fruits, cups-objects
reminiscent of friendship and togetherness. Often these objects are shown against
backgrounds that suggest the four seasons-signifiers of the passing of time and the
cyclical nature of life. The forms in these still lives (which Liao refers to as
"Seasonal Chats") are simple and repetitive, evoking the repeated elemental
pleasure friends take in getting together over a cup of tea or a glass of wine. But their
colors and textures, as well as those of the backgrounds against which they are set, are
sumptuous and luxurious, hinting at the rich foil of memories that underlies old
friendships.
The chromatic splendor and textural variety
of these works are achieved by an incredible technical virtuosity, the fruit of decades of
artistic experience. In his paintings Liao combines oils with gold leaf and collage
materials. His works on paper show a mixture of graphic techniques, such as silkscreen and
calligraphy, or silkscreen and drawing.
In his most recent works, Liao has
radically abandoned the opulent richness of his "Seasonal Chats". His
"Knots" are black and white woodcuts, done in a simple pointillist technique.
Liao likens them to the bleakness of winter that inevitably follows the rick colors of
fall. However, they also reflect his discontent with the unprecedented luxury of our
epoch. These prints are a return to basics, to the simplicity of black and white, and to a
technique that requires nothing but a piece of wood and a nail.
Knots speak of connectedness as well as
entanglement and it is possible to see Liao's "Knots" as reflections of human
relations, inevitably marked by mutual dependence and conflict. Indeed, Liao's work, in
general, though not concerned with the human figure, is ultimately about human life. His
paintings and prints express the artist's changing view of life-first as adventure and
mystery, then as a state of attachment to other human beings that is both utterly
meaningful (love, friendship) and utterly inescapable.
Written by Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, Seton
Hall University
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