ABOUT
Born in Taiwan and raised in the American Midwest, Charlene Liu is an artist based in Oregon. Liu’s paintings, prints, and mixed media installations weave together familial histories, cultural tropes, and decorative motifs to explore the malleable conditions of memory, heritage, and identity. Her imagery draws freely from nature, food, ephemera, still life paintings, Rococo ornamentation, and East Asian art and design. Liu’s luminous, layered compositions evoke multi-layered realities, fluid states, and imaginative realms through material process, vibrant colors, and playful juxtapositions.
Liu’s work has been exhibited at the USC Pacific Asia Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, Schneider Museum of Art, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University. Liu is a 2024 Hallie Ford Fellow in the Visual Arts. She received a MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. Liu is a Professor of Art and Printmaking at the University of Oregon.
Recent Exhibitions
Artists, Constellations, and Connections: Feminist Futures. 50th Anniversary of the Center for the Study of Women in Society. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene. January 27 - June 17, 2024
Prototype 1.0. Curated by Tomas Vu at Springs Projects, New York, NY. Apri 12 - May 20, 2024
Labor of Love. Curated by Alexandra Terry. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. January 16 - April 27, 2024
Bound/Unbound, Books Made By Artists. Curated by Megan Foster, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY. March 18 - April 24, 2024
Another Beautiful Country, Moving Images by Chinese American Artists. Curated by Jenny Lin. USC Pacific Asia Museum, University of Southern California, Pasadena, California. January 25 – April 21, 2024
Gathering, The Corner Gallery. Curated by Anne Couillaud, Andes, NY, July 1 - August 27, 2023
Awards
2024 Hallie Ford Fellowship, The Ford Family Foundation
2023 Career Opportunity Grant, the Oregon Arts Commission and The Ford Family Foundation
2022 Creative Arts Fellowship, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Press
Vanessa Holyoak, “Another Beautiful Country: Moving Images by Chinese American Artists,” e-flux Criticism, February 29, 2024.
Hsin-Yun Cheng, “Exhibition Review, Another Beautiful Country,” Invisible Culture, A Journal for Visual Culture, April 18, 2024.
Amy Wang, “‘Labor of Love’: Five Things to Know About Art Show Devoted to Workers,” The Oregonian/OregonLive, February 12.
Kalika Yap, host, “Another Beautiful Country with Bethany Montagano, Jenny Lin, Vivian Wenli Lin, and Charlene Liu,” Asian American Stories by AAPI-LA (podcast), February 9, 2024.
Artist Talks
Upcoming, Visiting Artist Lecture and Printmaking Artist-in-Residence, University at Buffalo, NY
Panel discussion with Labor of Love featured artists Tannaz Farsi, Midori Hirose, and Charlene Liu. Moderated by exhibition curator Alexandra Terry, Curator of Contemporary Art, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University, OR. March 7, 2024
Panel discussion with Feminist Futures artists and Nina Bozicnik, Senior Curator, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. May 22, 2024.
Visiting Artist Lecture, USC Roski School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, October 4-5, 2022.