Artist Yi Liu excels at expressing humanity’s search for the meaning of life through fantastical imagination. Using a semi-abstract approach, she combines elements of nature with the origins of life, conveying a sense of metamorphosis into new living beings. Her creative language embodies qualities of fantasy, grandeur, vitality, and temporality. Through exaggerated biological postures and expressions, her creatures reveal a spirit and bearing akin to that of humans.

Her use of materials is wide-ranging and not confined to conventional notions of ink painting. Instead, ink is treated as one medium among many, expanded through the incorporation of acrylics, gold leaf, and other materials. The works retain the linear elegance characteristic of Eastern aesthetics while also embracing the expressive power and tension of color.

In the artist’s mind, life is a finite poem—composed of both words and melody. In the ebb and flow between arrival and departure, a realm (“jing”) emerges: a space for free play and lyrical expression, or for the struggle of a warrior striving upward. Her bold, forceful imagery is interwoven with a distinctly feminine delicacy, achieving a balance of strength and softness. In this fusion, she reveals the dual nature of humanity—the resilience and the tenderness of life itself.