Where is Mao?

Where is Mao?

1988-2008
Artist
Hung Liu, Chinese, American, 1948-2021
Born: Changchun, China
Work Locations: Oakland, CA
Country
United States
Object
mixed media installation
Medium
wood, silk embroidery, enamel paint
Accession Number
2010.475A-E
Credit Line
Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum
Hung Liu (Chinese, American). Where is Mao?. 1988-2008. wood, silk embroidery, enamel paint. Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum. 2010.475A-E.
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art

Hung Liu uses the history of China and her childhood perception of the socialist Utopian dream as inspiration for paintings and installation. Liu reinvigorates her memories and illustrates her view of history as “always flowing forward.”  "Where is Mao?" originally took the form of 1,000 felt cut-outs of Mao’s profile with fortune cookies on top. Liu was one of millions in the procession to view Mao Zedong after his death in 1976. His legacies, such as the Cultural Revolution and “Great Leap Forward”, greatly influenced Liu’s life and strongly inspired her work.

 Liu received a BA of Fine Art from Beijing Teachers College in 1975 and a graduate degree in mural painting from Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China, in 1981. She earned an MA of Fine Arts from the University of California, San Diego in 1986.

©  Hung Liu

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