Dik Liu: Still Lifes
May 4 - June 1, 2018
Artist:
Location:
Gallery 456
Exhibition Statement

My interest in creative brushwork and lighting effects led me to these intimately scaled fruit and flower paintings; subject matter which has recurred throughout my career. But, I revisit the subject heeding the counsel of Ezra Pound: make it new.

Working in a small scale frees me from making grand pronouncements, and I approach these small paintings as studies. I resolve these paintings in front of the viewers, taking on an air of improvisation. Painting in shorthand, I pare the realism of light and space to its marrow, reducing what I see in the subject into a few splashy brush strokes. It thus invites the viewers to link these strokes together, revealing the illusion in their mind’s eye. The viewers and I are equal partners in the creative process.

I paint to evoke the sensation of seeing these fruits and flowers soaked in bright light, reflecting the light rays to penetrate my corneas and funnel through my pupils before slamming onto the back of my retinas, exciting every rod and every cone of my optic nerve. I replicate these retinal excitements in the paintings by pumping up their color intensity so that they mimic the saturated light I see in the objects. When these sensations are mimicked exactly, painting is made new, and renewed with it is our expectation of seeing itself.

Reception
May 10th, 2018
6 to 8 pm
Video
A video made by Garson Yu
Social Media & External Links
Coverage
[World Journal/世界日報] 廖的輝個展 揮灑花卉光影之美
[China Press/ 僑報] 华裔艺术家廖的辉画展曼哈顿登场