Liu Yong (刘墉 / Yung Liu) is an artist, author, and educator. He has influenced four generations of Chinese culture through 100+ books and courses—with topics ranging from art theory and painting techniques to motivational non-fiction and children’s fables. Born in Taipei, Liu studied Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University and immigrated to the U.S. as artist-in-residence at St. John’s University.
Having lost his father at age 9 and his house in a fire at age 13, childhood memories profoundly inspire Liu’s work. He most frequently paints nighttime scenery because he remembers sleeping in his father’s lap while fishing at night, listening to the water and smelling the ginger flowers. He also remembers stretching out bedsheets with his mother, how they sprayed water from their mouths to smoothen the wrinkles. This developed into one of Liu’s experimental methods since the 1970s: blowing ink onto paper through an L-shaped tube. He repeatedly wrinkles and irons the paper, repels the ink with wax and cutouts, and rubs the ink with sandpaper. As seen in Snowy Mountains in Moonlit Night (2014), the result looks like a Song Dynasty landscape, yet without visible brush strokes.
Liu’s art also embodies the essence of literature. Like reading a book, viewers can take time to “read” the imaginative drama and dialogue in his paintings. As seen in Celebrating the Lantern Festival at Longshan Temple (2012), one can “live, play, and listen” in the world of the painting. Publications and exhibitions frequently present Liu’s art alongside his poetry and prose.
Liu’s guiding principles are love and natural harmony. For his take on the Birds and Flowers genre, he meticulously studies and observes nature, to internalize the beauty of nature’s creations and capture their true spirit. Whether bees or pigeons or decaying wildflowers, all subjects are endowed with human emotions and personalities. Meanwhile, each painting’s elements harmonize through a holistic dance; as seen in Night Hunt (2015), even the owl’s ears are affected by the breeze.
Liu lives and works in New York and Taipei. His works can be found in the collection of Zhejiang Art Museum, China; Liaoning Provincial Museum, China; and Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, Germany; among other museums and institutions around the world.
SYZ Studios LLC is the New York-based sister company to Taipei-based Shui Yun Zhai Cultural Enterprises, which Liu founded in 1991.