Artwork Description
Hung Liu – Western Wind
Dimensions: 80 x 80″ finished size / 80 x 80″ unframed
Year: 2006
Medium: oil on canvas
Western Wind is one of my favorite paintings from Hung Liu. The theme of humanity in this painting is timeless. Humans have been making treks across the world since the beginning of mankind’s awakening. We have taken these journeys together and separately and this urge seems to be deeply rooted in who we are as human beings; part of our common thread in exploration and survival. This image stems from the 1930’s during the Japanese occupation on the Chinese mainland. People are leaving their towns to find safety and shelter. Hung Liu found similarities with this image when she compared it to photographs by American FSA photographer Dorothea Lange. Parallel migrations happened in the US during the Great Depression and Dust-bowl events of the 1930’s. This painting also reminds me of the unity of the family and interestingly there are pairs portrayed,Two Donkeys, Two Humans and Two wild Geese. In the center is the most precious object, a new life.
-Stephen Buxton
Hung Liu’s paintings are featured in major museum collections throughout the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and more than 50 other museums throughout the world.