About Kathy Minhsin Liao
Drawing inspiration from her diverse cultural background and personal history, Kathy Liao mixed media work is about the intimate yet universal concept of relationships. Liao received her MFA in Painting from Boston University and BFA in Painting and Drawing from University of Washington, Seattle. Liao is a recipient of various awards including the 2020 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award, Eliza beth Greenshield Foundation Grant, and artist grants and fellowships from Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Vermont Studio Center, and Jentel Artist Residency. Her work was shown in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Kansas City, and many other cities nationally and internationally. In the past, Liao was Director of the Painting and Printmaking Studio Art Program at Missouri Western State University, and taught at Boston University, University of Washington, Seattle University, and Gage Academy of Art. She is currently part of the Artist Services team at Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City.
I engage in rituals to keep memories alive.
Phone calls at the same time every day, packing and unpacking luggage, eagerly waiting at Arrival and saying good-byes at Departure, getting into another long winding customs and border security line-- These rituals are performed by many immigrants, despite not knowing when or where the line ends.
As an artist of Taiwanese descent, I look for patterns and repetitions in behaviors of the immigrant family. As families separate and migrate, I recognize the invariable loss and the struggle to justify and reconcile the distance in between.
As we rely more on virtual means to stay in touch with distant loved ones, the wall of the digital screen blinds us to those close by and makes us lose touch with reality. This translates into my work as I touch, wipe, rub, peel, and caress my drawing surfaces, giving the figures skin and weight. With each piece, I am constantly re-establishing my relationship to family, being conscientious of my distance to them physically and emotionally. My recent paintings and wall drawing installations document the fluid state between experience, memory, and place. Like well-worn film negatives, I revisit images, snapshots, and memories through iterations, until they begin to morph, overlap, and degrade. The result may be an invitation to enter into an overwhelming yet familiar space, or only a flat wall with traces of history left visible.
About the art
Drawing inspiration from her diverse cultural background and personal history, Kathy Liao mixed media work is about the intimate yet universal concept of relationships. Liao received her MFA in Painting from Boston University and BFA in Painting and Drawing from University of Washington, Seattle. Liao is a recipient of various awards including the 2020 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award, Eliza beth Greenshield Foundation Grant, and artist grants and fellowships from Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Vermont Studio Center, and Jentel Artist Residency. Her work was shown in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Kansas City, and many other cities nationally and internationally. In the past, Liao was Director of the Painting and Printmaking Studio Art Program at Missouri Western State University, and taught at Boston University, University of Washington, Seattle University, and Gage Academy of Art. She is currently part of the Artist Services team at Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City.
I engage in rituals to keep memories alive.
Phone calls at the same time every day, packing and unpacking luggage, eagerly waiting at Arrival and saying good-byes at Departure, getting into another long winding customs and border security line-- These rituals are performed by many immigrants, despite not knowing when or where the line ends.
As an artist of Taiwanese descent, I look for patterns and repetitions in behaviors of the immigrant family. As families separate and migrate, I recognize the invariable loss and the struggle to justify and reconcile the distance in between.
As we rely more on virtual means to stay in touch with distant loved ones, the wall of the digital screen blinds us to those close by and makes us lose touch with reality. This translates into my work as I touch, wipe, rub, peel, and caress my drawing surfaces, giving the figures skin and weight. With each piece, I am constantly re-establishing my relationship to family, being conscientious of my distance to them physically and emotionally. My recent paintings and wall drawing installations document the fluid state between experience, memory, and place. Like well-worn film negatives, I revisit images, snapshots, and memories through iterations, until they begin to morph, overlap, and degrade. The result may be an invitation to enter into an overwhelming yet familiar space, or only a flat wall with traces of history left visible.