The exhibition will showcase 17 new abstract landscape paintings created specifically for the show that have never been shown before.

This exhibition will examine Crystal’s continued exploration into constructing landscapes as metaphors for the intangible forces that drive human beings from within. Tying intimately with her emotional states, Crystal derives the narratives of intention and desire with teetering optimism through her portrayal of the moon, stars, mountains and rocks in her paintings. The complexities of life, from hopefulness to desolation, are carefully infused into the landscapes of her work, alluding to truths from the artist’s own private life.

In her series the moon and the tides, gouache and watercolor are used to portray the beauty of nature alongside the moon. Her depictions of mountains and tides in this series all portray their subtle interrelations; for example, the closer the moon is to the mountains, the more roaring the waves are. From the painting the moon and the tides “settling in” (2017) to the moon and the tides “when you’re close” (2017), the audience can visualize how dynamic relationships between aspects of the natural world, such as the moon, the mountains and the tides, can be likened to the development of human relationships, which can be at once exciting, overwhelming and tempestuous at the beginning, then calmer as time goes on.

In the mountains series, Crystal employed the technique of handcrafted marbled paper collaging for the first time. The swirls of marbleized paint in the work echo the heritage art of Chinese ink paintings. Meanwhile, the distinct edged collage mimics the hard and enormous stones, mountains and cliffs of the natural world, providing shelter and protection, and elevating other forms, such as birch trees, closer to the moon.

Liu’s in dreams series is a set of mountain scenes depicting the reflection of the night sky shimmering off the water. Throughout the series, the reflection symbolizes the imaginary space of dreams. In the work in dreams “stay close” (2017), only the reflection of the moon is visible on the water, suggesting that the moon is nestled out of sight in the mountains. The scene projects a feeling of calmness and intimacy; the water’s turbulent tides are at bay due to the moon’s distance, yet their relationship remains intact and at its most intimate, with the water and moon appearing as one through the moon’s reflection.