Introducing: Kathy Liao

This week the Studios Inc’s introductive series that focuses on our newest artists will be delving deeper into the multimedia artist Kathy Liao. Kathy Liao declares that her work explores the concept of what a relationship is. The multimedia painting series Lingering Presence probes the intimate but fading relationship between Liao and her grandmother;who is slowly losing her memory. In the multimedia painting Memories of Watermelon you see layers of a photo of an older woman surrounded by painted shapes and blocks. The shapes pull the focus of the painting inward and onto the woman who is covered in faded colors and patterns across her skin and clothes. The vibrancy of the painted shapes contrasts with the faded skin tone of the woman. The faded skin tone and the energetic colors represent Liao’s interpretation of her grandmother’s life. Liao questions if her grandmother lives in a colorless blurry haze to have it punctuated by bursts of kaleidoscopic remembrance?Kathy Liao is currently premiering a new multimedia painting called 3 AM Kitchen at our group exhibition studiosinc:2018 on view until 4.13.18.Kathy Liao is an Assistant Professor of Art at Missouri Western State University. Liao earned her MFA in Painting from Boston University and BFA in Painting and Drawing from University of Washington, Seattle. Liao’s work was featured in exhibitions in Seattle, Washington; Kansas City, Missouri; Boston, Massachusetts among others. Liao has received a variety of grants and awards; including the Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation Grant, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Vermont Studio Center, and Jentel Artist Residency.