Yang-Che Liu

Youthful Training brings Bountiful Harvest

For Yang-Che Liu, success can be traced in part to the vigorous training he received early in his education as an artist. At Hsinchu Teachers College, Liu spent his undergraduate years as a student of Lee Je-fan. In art school, his teachers later would include Yang San-lang, Liao Chi-chuan, Lee Mei-shu. Hung Ray-ling and Liu Yu, all well-known artists who taught him water colors, oils and all aspects of these disciplines. Eventually, in 1975, Liu was introduced to printmaking by Liao Shu-ping; and later in 1986, he went to France to continue his study at Paris' 17th Printmaking Center under the famed master, S.W. Hayter.

Throughout his career, Yang-Che Liu's prints have evoked a powerful feeling of intimacy. Rendered with a technique that is modern, his work still retains many traditional Chinese elements. Of particular interest are the Taiwanese domestic images that appear in many of Liu's prints.

" Youthful Training brings Bountiful Harvest "

The imagery explored by Yang-Che Liu, and the materials he has used to capture them, have changed many times during his two decades as a printmaker. In the late 1970s, Liu developed his trademark style of printmaking based on a mix of intaglio and silkscreen. True to Western art traditions, he has used his technique to generate an abundance of new ideas. In the 1980s, he began experiments with "art language":first introducing into his work such elements as the shapes of Chinese characters and the lines of Taiwanese architecture; and later offering elements such as "fruit" and "vegetables", arranged layer upon layer in each piece, skillfully creating compositions with multiple visual effects. In the 1990s, Liu has explored "city phenomena", using such objects as "pencils", with their cruel sharpness, to represent city architecture, and "corn" as a metaphor for city dwellers. Recently, Liu's art seen the influence of music, due to his family's involvement in that medium. A few new pieces include musical instruments as "external" images and hands as "internal" images of musical movement.

Yang-Che Liu is also noted for his lunar new year prints. Every year since 1985 he has entered art competitions held during the lunar new year, winning recognition in this traditional event, ironically, for groundbreaking works combining Chinese and Western elements executed with a technique both modern and traditional. Liu's prints communicate ancient Chinese values by contrasting them with the shortcomings of modern life, making this traditional artform palatable to young Chinese audiences. Liu's new year prints are recognized as an important part of his corpus of artwork.

Today's exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view a collection of Liu Yand Jer's prints selected from more than a decade of his career. For friends and teachers, and for all aficionados of printmaking, this is truly a special event.