About VNS_LIU
Vanessa Liu is a Chinese artist currently based in California.
Primarily focusing on painting and printmaking, Vanessa’s works navigate various conceptual forms of narratives.
Vanessa has an ilustration BFA degree in Rhode Island School of Design and a printmaking MA degree in Royal College of Art.
I like telling stories. In my works, I present records of condensed space-time, noted in fast and distinguished structures. I am especially drawn to the stories that are conflicting or violent in nature, as well as the kinds that are implicit, never spoken of, or never had the chance to unfold. In my paintings and prints, I use abstract marks to encompass the narratives and to shield the secrets and the sense of privacy in the stories themselves.
The protagonists in my works are often well-camouflaged, hibernating in colors, lines, or made-up languages. The worlds that contain them are the manifestation of their inner beliefs and shifts in blinks of eyes through the transformation of their states of mind.
During my creative process, I use symbols to represent the potential white noise in their stories—such as the hum of the air, the subtle movements of insects on the skin, silent sighs, or the whispered murmurs within the protagonist's mind. These sounds punctuate my works, anchoring the stories in their own time and space.
My interest in the sense of concealment in narratives has many sources of inspiration, one of which directs to the loss of accuracy and meanings in the process of adaptations. As a creator adjusts their methods of recording to their changing circumstances, many subtleties fall into silence with the shifting contexts, and many symbols get dissected and pieced together. This process—the blurring of truth —would then be faithfully and consciously recorded into the artwork, as part of the narrative.
I hope you enjoy the worlds revealed in my works, as they breathe in their timeframes. For these works are the truthful witnesses, of some great journeys and realizations.
我喜欢讲故事,尤其喜欢那些短小精炼或矛盾激烈的故事,以及未曾出口或未能登场的故事。在我的油画和版画作品中,我用抽象的笔触含蓄地讲述这些它们,在完整叙事的同时包容故事本身的隐私性和羞耻感。
在我描绘的世界中,主角总在隐藏着。他们随着世界的色彩而流动,沿着世界的脉络而呼吸。有时他们被完全掩盖,在重复的笔画中丧失原本的形状。世界的结构也随主角的经历而分秒变换,是主角当下感受的意象表达。
在创作时,我用符号表现故事中可能存在的白噪音——譬如空气的嗡鸣声,昆虫在皮肤上的翕动声,沉默的嗟叹声或主角内心的窃窃私语声。这些声音是我作品中的标点,完整着故事所在的时空。
叙事中的隐藏和自圆其说来源于许多因素,譬如情绪和挣扎在不同情景中的失语:在创作者的记录与变幻境遇的磨合中,许多细微处的情感随着语境的改变而失去准确的意义,并随之陷入沉默。出于记录的本能,许多符号在表达过程中被暴力拆解和拼凑,而真相的模糊化也成为叙事的一部分,被诚实地记录进作品中。
我希望你能享受我作品中所揭示的世界,它们在自己的时间框架内呼吸,真诚地见证着那些旅程和觉悟。