Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu
An amazingly expansive retrospective of Mills College’s very own tenured Professor of Studio Art, Hung Liu, is currently on exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California. “Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu” offers an extensive view of her body of paintings, which is a nice contrast from the Offerings exhibit at Mills that was installation heavy.
The show starts with a drawing that her mother had from when she was just five years old. Exemplifying a keen artistic talent since an early age, the pencil drawing illustrates a sea of people with one hand holding up a Mao poster.
One of the most prolific Chinese American artists living in America today, Hung’s rich historical context and experience that not many artists of this generation have, including living through Maoist China, the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward.
With such a vast array of paintings on display, the space is curated into almost mini gallery spaces for various series.
Hung creates a fluid feminist ideology and strong matriarchal sense with ties to the body in her work . The focus of the female as a strong character and the relationship of mothers and daughters in the retrospective is spatially expansive, but the content and spirit of Hung work is still very intimate and inviting.
It’s Spring of Hung and she’s here to stay, or at least until June 30th at the OMCA.
Influential Bay Area figure passes away
Artist, educator, and activist Carlos Pedro Villa passed away March 21. A renowned Bay Area figure who passionately represented and advocated multicultural aspects within the arts community, Villa had deep roots and foundations in the Bay Area. He received his MFA at Mills in 1961 and started teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) in 1969.
Villa’s teachings helped shape and influence many artists in the Bay Area, ultimately cultivating a huge network of artists, many of them lifelong friends and students.
In 2011, Mission Cultural Center had a successful show with a great body of his work, and in 2012 he was a recipient of then Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts.
SFAI is planning a public memorial where individuals are welcomed to contribute their memories of him.
For more information visit: sfai.edu/event/carlos-villa-memorial
