Megan Liu

My body of work concerns what happens during the night: the exploration of the unconscious and of subtle emotion throughout the night. The capacity for quietude and reflection in the night, disconnected from the external world, is a quality I have revelled and grown in. I chose this concept, as I hope to express the sentiments that I have come to associate with the nighttime. However, the artworks are not specific to my experiences, as I wish for viewers to contemplate what the pieces make them feel and remember. Thus, I aimed to conjure up more subtle emotion through my technical and conceptual choices, allowing viewers to attach their own experiences to my collection. To express a variety of sentiments, I used settings that I envision having connections to my experiences. Viewing the sky, ocean, and nature gives me a fresher mindset, so I created landscapes on pieces that are meant to convey a more refreshing, enlightened feeling. In contrast, some pieces have an unclear setting, such as Married to the Moon and Haze. It was crucial to express a more unconscious, muted emotion, so the lack of clarity of setting was meant to emphasize the characters’ being stuck in a more unsettled space. The Subjects of the Moon and Crowded Kingdom are pieces that explore the area in between a true and a surreal setting-between refreshing nature and vague spaces. Throughout my collection, I utilized a wide range of media. In Crowded Kingdom, I used mixed media to support my idea of a crowded mind that results in a richer tapestry, whereas I used acrylic paint in other artworks to express more solid and tangible concepts. Fineliner and color pencil were used together to neatly create figures that represent light, subtle emotion and concepts. Other media were also chosen for their ability to express specific ideas, for example, charcoal’s affinity for detailed and realistic landscapes, pastel’s ability to blend and layer for a hazy image, and clay’s 3-D depiction of the rabbits in the moon. I generally used more realistic depictions to present moments that I could see myself in personally. However, I experimented with Impressionism for Rendezvous with the Moon, in order to express a freeing seascape. I also used titles to give the audience a light, descriptive nudge towards my original intentions, while leaving plenty of room to explore their own ideas. Overall, the audience is supposed to more easily locate their own experiences and emotions associated with the nighttime, influenced by my choices. I arranged my collection to guide viewers through a journey of emotional states. I presented When the Sun Falls first to represent the very beginning of the nighttime. Married to the Moon is placed next to it, displaying the moon to allow the audience to connect the collection more specifically to the nighttime and the unconscious. Married to the Moon and Haze both show unconscious characters in a distant state of incompletion. These two are together to show sealed-off subtle emotion and allow viewers to gain a better understanding of their similar atmosphere. The Subjects of the Moon and Crowded Kingdom continue the trend of being not completely present. However, they do not have the solemnity that the previous two pieces do, due to their absurdity and intriguing figures. They provide the viewer with a transition to a more content and aware space. Crowded Kingdom in particular demonstrates busyness in thoughts, but there is beauty in it, meant to instill a feeling of wholeness with oneself and nature. The last two works are at the end together, since they are both meant to evoke feelings of wholeness and reflection from within the night to the end of the night. The linear arrangement of my gallery allows smooth movement through both time within the night and the gallery’s emotional shifts, as I intended for the arrangement to guide viewers through the gallery and its overarching concepts. From the sunset to solemn, unconscious moments to moments of insight and reflection to the sunrise, I hope viewers go through a similar journey to understand their sentiments and appreciate the world at night in its many facets.