Wk4-Artist Conversation-Yucen Liu

Exhibition Information

Artist: Yucen Liu

Exhibition: Metal Group Show

Median: Metal

Gallery: CSULB – Max L. Gatov Gallery

Website: Under Construction

Instagram: @Yucen_metalsmith

I had the pleasure of meeting Miss. Yucen during her graduate year here at the California State University of Long Beach. Yucen Liu is an international student from China who is studying in the School of Art’s Metal Program. She specializes in metals and also creates beautiful jewelry out of metal. Her main focus when creating sculptures is animals. When she was growing up an only child in China she would often be gifted stuffed animals from her parents who wanted her to have a companion. The stuffed animals such as bears, wild cats, and other animals kept her imagination busy and now inspires her to create metal sculptures. Since metalwork is limited at the university level she decides to attend Long Beach State to earn her MFA (Masters in Fine Art) in metals.

It has been ten years since she moved to the States to studying art and it has been a mental challenge for her because she is missing her family. However, she expresses that feeling with beautiful sculptures and jewelry. As mentioned before she gets her inspiration from her childhood memories of stuffed animals. She mentioned how growing up she had a collection of various stuffed animals that have found her love and respect towards animals.

This piece captivated me because I love animals and bears are on top of my list. So naturally, I gravitated to the sculpture and I liked the flowers that were sticking out of its head and its sad eyes. Something about the bear’s eyes there felt as if it wanted to tell me something since its mouth was not as noticeable I assumed it’s not there. However, the nose and other features like ears are seen easily. The head of the bear is growing out of the ground representing a moment in Yucen’s childhood. She remembers how her mother would tell her not to eat the watermelon seeds because she’ll grow one inside her tummy. Thus, the best-having watermelon flowers I too to symbolize the growth of a watermelon.

The bear had a caption/title of “Mom said, if I accidentally eat watermelon seed” which is what her mother would tell her jokingly. Yet, when you’re a child you are more gullible to statements like these. It is made out of copper, brass, and is surrounded by black sand to represent dirt. The sculpture had fine details that were meant to be seen and the fur on a bear and each flower had its own set of unique lines to give it a texture similar to how a real bear would look or watermelon flowers. The sand was also a nice touch to emphasize it growing out of the ground. She kept it in the original copper color that gives it a classic tone because it is in its original color with a polish to shine. The piece itself is not huge but big enough to capture your attention.

When seeing her sculpture of the bear it resonated with me because I grew up going camping and being very outdoorsy so seeing something I am familiar with feeling nice. Since art can sometimes be confusing and difficult to understand I connected with her piece to my childhood memories. We both shared our childhood memories surrounding the sculpture and when I asked to elaborate more on the concept she shared this with me:

“I don’t want to limit my work I want to share my work with everyone”

Yucen Liu

To elaborate more on this quote is that no matter where you’re from you could understand and appreciate the sculpture and find something in common with the bear or message it is conveying. The message for me is peacefulness and growth. These two describe my art experience because the bear seems to be at peace even with it’s sad looking eyes it is accepting growth and change.

Her thought process when creating the bear sculpture is: Start with a clay model to get an idea of how big and the shapes to forged onto the metal slabs. Then, Yucen mentions how there is comfort when she uses equipment because it’s a passion to use a hammer to form shape, body, and gives you the energy that is translated into a piece for it to come to life. Well at least in our imagination to remember moments in our lives of growth.