About Me
Caroline Liu is a multidisciplinary bicultural artist who lives and works in Albuquerque, NM. She primarily make paintings, drawings, and murals, with the occasional fiber art thrown in. Their work is an exploration of decadent surrealism and cynical realism, intricately weaving together realistic and illustrative motifs that blur the boundaries between light and dark, real and imagined. Inspired by their own memories, culture, and identity, she reflects on the complexities of the Asian American experience from historical moments to the present day. Their work ultimately creates new narratives that unpack deep emotional states alongside modern day critique.
Liu holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of New Mexico and has exhibited both nationally and internationally in galleries and museums, including large-scale mural partnerships with major brands like Meta and Meow Wolf. In 2023, she debuted their first West Coast solo exhibition ‘Stages of Grief’ at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles and a two-person exhibition ‘Perhaps, and Nevermore’ at Pie Projects Contemporary Art in Santa Fe. Liu recently completed a residency at the prestigious Wassaic Project in New York and took part in a traveling train residency hosted by curator Jorge Rojas and Ogden Contemporary Arts in Utah.
This traveling residency launched their work into an exciting traveling exhibition that opened May 2024 in Ogden Utah, and will travel to Redline Contemporary Arts in Denver August 2024, then close at 516 ARTS in Albuquerque, New Mexico November 2024. The exhibition titled “The Other Side of the Tracks” discusses the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on marginalized communities both during the construction and the years that followed. For this exhibition, Liu created an expansive body of work that includes a large-scale painting and several intricate pencil drawings that serve as memorials for the Chinese workers that suffered.
You can find this new body of work under the ‘Chinatown of the Sierra Nevada Mountains’ tab
Caroline in her studio in Albuquerque, 2020.
“They Had Their Tin Fish and They Were Happy! (A Memorial: Their Bodies Packed in Barrels Marked Pickles)”, Chinatown of the Sierra Nevada Mountains Series. 2024
“A Layer of Comfort”, Reclamation series. 2016
“I won’t lose my mind so you can find yours”, Daydreams series. 2020
“When Fire and the Ocean Floor Collide”, Stages of Grief series. 2022
“Everything is Everything”, Stages of Grief series. 2023
Caroline with her dogs, Pig (left) and Bunny (right),
White Sands National Monument, March 2022.
Photo by: Andrew Knapp