Ella Liu -SHANHAI 山海
https://ellaliu.art/
"ShanHai," ancient version collage, digital painting, 2020
Ella Liu was born in 1997 in Guangdong, China, and moved to the US since 2016. In 2019, she got her Associate degree at Mt.San Antonio College. She’s now a senior student at the University of California, Berkeley. She works in digital painting, painting, and photography. She has participated in a cookbook design, an app’s artistic design, and package design. Her work captures the drama of pop culture icons and figures. Her work explores media influence, cultural conflict, and self-identity.
“ShanHai-Di Ren Guo,” the ancient version. Digital painting, 2020.
Artist Statement:
ShanHai is inspired by an ancient Chinese book called Shanhai Jing, which records many strange monsters and customs. Based on the texts of the book, I create my own version of some of the monsters. The use of color in my work is inspired by the frescoes of Dunhuang. Combining the ancient Chinese painting style with pop culture and animation character design, this project is going to show an avant-garde, young, colorful presentation of ancient stories and monsters.
I think traditional culture and stories are passed down from generation to generation, but each generation has a different way of expressing it. I also hope that through the continuous development of my project, I can re-present the tradition to everyone in the form of pop culture. Let the ancient stories and legends become the trend.
“ShanHai-Di Ren Guo,” the cute version. Digital painting, 2020.
“ShanHai-Xi Wang Mu,” the ancient and cute versions collage. Digital painting, 2020.
