Alec Brudzinski
World Art Studies 1300
Section 104
3 December 2014
Research Paper
The Power of Artistic Freedom
Hung Liu, The Martyr, 2001.
Lithograph.
CU Art Museum.
http://www.bus.umich.edu/RossArt/collection/
Hung Liu is a prominent Chinese-American artist due to her artistic development
during the time of communist China and her immigration to America, which allowed her
to freely express her thoughts into art. These experiences shape her art; she explores
the complex interactions between her own memories of China and the well-known
documented history.1 Her signature style of showing the common-people who are often
forgotten in history books to symbolize larger events is shown well in her piece The
Martyr. The piece shows a sad Chinese woman surrounded by a dripping background
of red and butterflies. The Martyr expresses the signifying systems that shaped Liu’s
1
Alan Burgess, “Questions from the Sky: New Work by Hung Liu.” San Jose Museum of Art (2013): 1
1
life; the artistic restriction of communist China and her immigration to America that
brought her freedom, through these systems the viewer is able to identify the recurring
symbols of government control, feminism, and Chinese culture.
Hung Liu’s need for freedom and escape from the constraining culture of communist
Chinese art is epitomized within her piece The Martyr. Visually, The Martyr is a realistic
piece that puts emphasis on its centerpiece, a Chinese woman. The woman and
background is textured with line of various thicknesses in order to create realism. The
color of the piece consists of pastel colors whose value is faded and washed to create
an affect that the piece is an image of the past. Additionally, the varying level of value in
the piece creates an allusion of space between the interacting portions. The woman
seems to have space from the faded red background because of her darker tones, while
the butterflies seem to be in front of her due to their larger proportion. The varying
spaces and value put emphasis on the woman the most. The form and shape of the
woman and butterflies is realistic but the background is abstract, dripping with red and
black forms that hint at a shape of a noose on the right side of the piece. The varying
layers of the butterflies, woman, and abstract background provide an overall balance
and unity, but also creates movement from the upper left to the bottom right of the
piece. The washed, dripping look of the piece provides an additional sense of
movement downward. Realism is added with the texture and details of thinner lines on
the woman and butterflies. The strong detail in the woman coupled with the contrast she
and the butterflies have with the lighter, faded red background compliment the other
elements and bring emphasis to the woman who is likely “the martyr.”
2
All the elements and principles of design are used by Liu to emphasize her
signifying systems of her Chinese past and her current ability to display her Chinese
memories in the open art community of America. Hung Liu honed her artistic abilities in
communist China, a society where each discipline of art was firmly separated and the
art allowed was tightly controlled.2 This restrictive society that Hung Liu grew up in
fueled her desire to paint what she wanted in the style she wanted; therefore increasing
her want to immigrate to America. Within the Mao Zedong controlled society artists were
frowned upon for using Western style within their works.3 For Liu, her work now
interconnects these two cultures of her past Chinese life and her current Western one
because of the artistic freedom she has found in America. This interconnectedness of
cultures is shown in The Martyr as it emphasizes the adversity the common Chinese
person faced that Mao attempted to shield from the Western world. The restrictive
system that Liu developed in only motivated her to make works of art that communist
China would have prevented and frowned upon. Liu was not alone with her attempt to
strike out against Chinese artistic control; as the world became more globalized, more
Chinese artists looked to Western contemporary art and used the most powerful styles
and techniques to confront the governmental control.4 Liu’s Western symbols of the
butterflies to signify hope and the noose to signify death are key pieces that epitomize
the affect of her signifying systems on The Martyr.
Hung Liu experienced a similar signifying system that previous women artists did, a
system where Chinese artists and woman artists were restricted in their creation. Unlike
Angela Hill, “Artist Hung Liu’s work blurs history, memory.” San Jose Mercury News (2013): 1
Roger T. Ames, Xu Bing and Contemporary Chinese Art (Albany: SUNY Press, 2011), 16
4 Yue Zhang, “Governing Art Districts: State Control and Cultural Production in Contemporary China.”
Cambridge University Press (2014): 829
2
3
3
the Chinese governmental control of art that Hung Liu experienced, many other woman
artists were simply restricted by the assumptions of men who had the dominate opinion
in the art world.5 Liu often focuses on elements of feminism in her art, just as she does
in The Martyr; she takes her memories and confronts the larger societal issues that she
experienced in China.6 The Martyr is one of many pieces by Liu where a woman is
displayed in a central role, hinting that Liu experienced not only constraint from the
Chinese government but also limited opportunity because of her gender. Liu and her
fellow female artists of the past were not provided the opportunities of many male artists
that are considered great, with different circumstances, male art geniuses may have
been denied the support they needed to succeed as well.7 However, even male artists
of the past have been forgotten due to their individual genius being stifled by social
institutions and art academies just as Hung Liu was repressed in communist China.8
Liu’s opportunity to break the shackles of control came with her immigration to America.
Her style of art that expressed the tyranny of communist China began to take form and
is expressed in The Martyr.
Hung Liu’s art encapsulates her life of communist Chinese tyranny and struggles
as a woman artist but this is only possible through her artistic freedom she has found in
America. Liu’s art has thrived in displaying her true experiences in China, which has
offered the art world and the world as a whole a new perspective. The artistic freedom
Liu has, has been used positively, but in many cases artists have used their artistic
expression for sparking conflict. A piece that has caused great conflict has been Chris
Linda Nochlin, “Why Have Their Been No Great Women Artists?” Art News (1971): 5
Hill, “Artist Hung Liu’s work,” 1.
7 Nochlin “No Great Woman Artists?” 7.
8 Nochlin “No Great Woman Artists?” 10.
5
6
4
Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary (Figure 1). Ofili has capitalized on his artistic freedom to
create a piece that by many is considered insulting to their religion and only made to
draw attention and shock value. Regardless of each individual’s opinion and the conflict
that has occurred due to Ofili’s piece, art can clearly be used to cause conflict on an
even greater scale. Hung Liu has used her artistic expression in a positive way to open
the door of truth of China to the world. Art exists on the other extreme, such as Nazi
propaganda, that can hurt society all due to artistic freedom. Liu has used the
contrasting systems of restriction and open creativity to appreciate artistic freedom and
do good; the same cannot be said for other artists with great artistic liberty.
Hung Liu’s piece The Martyr embodies her experience of fighting off artistic
control, her struggles with being a woman in the art world, and the tyranny of communist
China on culture. Her shift from creative restriction to America’s free art community
allowed her the opportunity to spread the truth she wanted the world to know about
China. In Liu’s case she uses her new found artistic freedom to create powerful images
that provide a message that impacts perspectives on the art world and China. Artistic
freedom has also been used to create pieces that are only for shock value and
purposely causing conflict. Artistic control is a grey area for society as a whole due to
the implications art can have as propaganda, a spark of revolution, and religious
conflict. Freedom of art differs from freedom of speech as art differs greater in meaning
by each individual’s signifying systems. Deciding which art is considered dangerous to
society on a whole will be a difficult task but certainly one that could be faced as some
artists continue to push the boundaries of what is acceptable.
5
Figure 1:
Figure 1
Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996
6
Bibliography
Ames, Roger T. Xu Bing and Contemporary Chinese Art: Cultural and Philosophical
Reflections. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011. 3-18
Burgess, Alan. “Questions from the Sky: New Work by Hung Liu.” San Jose Museum of
Art (2013): 1-2
Hill, Angela. “Artist Hung Liu’s work blurs history, memory.” San Jose Mercury News
(2013): 1-3
Nochlin, Linda. “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Art News (1971):
1-19
Zhang, Yue. “Governing Art Districts: State Control and Cultural Production in
Contemporary China.” Cambridge University Press: The China Quarterly (2014):
827-843
7