Cathy Liu lives in San Francisco and on the Big Island of Hawaii where she’s constantly inspired by the fragility and force of life. She grew up in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. Before she graduated from SJSU with a B.A. in Italian Studies, she studied in Florence, Italy where she met her husband, Architect Craig Steely. After working for Mother Jones Magazine for five years she focused on the investigative and exploratory work of painting.
Artist Statement: “My abstract organic paintings are a playful meditation on life––how we’re interconnected with everyone and everything, yet uniquely shaped and part of a vibrant dynamic whole. Originally, the organic shapes flowed naturally from the wood grain of my first plywood paintings. The discarded wood scraps were a physical reminder of being a small part of the whole. My canvas paintings similarly elaborate upon the idea that only part of the picture is visible. The canvases are painted beyond the borders with the images extending out over the edges. After many years of canvas paintings, I returned to nature, finding driftwood and rocks to paint––again, just little pieces of a majestic, only imaginable, ever-expanding whole.”
Contact
Cathy Liu
8 Beaver Street
San Francisco, California 94114 USA
Galleries/Shows
- HW Creative Gallery, 224 Mississippi Street, San Francisco, August 26 thru November 4, 2023
- Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, June 26-August 30, 2021
- de Young Museum, San Francisco, October 10, 2020 thru January 3, 2021
- Wescover unique designs, Worldwide 2019-present
- Matarozzi Pelsinger, 355 11th St. San Francisco, October 2018
- Glama Rama, San Francisco, April 2014
- Louie-Meager Art Gallery, Fremont, November 2012
- Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, October 2009
- EBMUD, Oakland, April 2009
- Mollusk Surf Shop, San Francisco, October 2008
- Aftermodern, San Francisco, February 2007
- Design Within Reach, Berkeley, August 2006
- Applegate Art Gallery, Santa Monica, April 2006
- Applegate Art Gallery, Malibu, October 2004
- Friend SF, San Francisco, August 2004
- Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, December 2002
- Cowboys & Angels, San Francisco, September 2002
- Van Go Gallery, Sacramento, July 2002
- Glama Rama, San Francisco, July 2001
- LIMN, San Francisco, October 2000
- www.NextMonet.com, June 2000–May 2004
- Olga Dollar Gallery, San Francisco, May 2000
- ATA, San Francisco, April 1999
- Space, San Francisco, October 1997