The Trophy

oil on canvas

114"x78"

Hung Liu is a Chinese-American contemporary artist.  Much of her paintings deal with Chinese history and philosophy, as she was trained in the Chinese Socialist Realist style.  She combines realism with abstract, in a non surrealist fashion, which really highlights the emotion in her pieces.  Devoid of typical backgrounds and negative spaces associated with her subject's backgrounds, the subjects are set free within the pieces and shine as main actors, if not heroes.  I enjoy her style because it really blends two opposite techniques in a way that feels natural an unobtrusive.