Crystal Liu: Remember When We Used to Dream
ko-an (‘ko,an) noun: a paradoxical anecdote or riddle used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and provoke enlightenment. Origin: Japanese, “matter for public thought,” from Chinese gongan “official business.”
The meanings of Crystal Liu’s enigmatic photographs unfold quietly — revealing, obscuring, gently teasing, delighting. Quotidian objects in domestic interiors become landscapes. Patterned wallpaper is the forest floor; a lace curtain, the falling night; spilled jam on a white tablecloth, a violent crime scene. Liu’s imagery is at first playful, then puzzling and ultimately provocative, as domestic narratives become metaphors for intimate relationships and private joy and tragedy.
Concurrently, Liu will exhibit related drawings at Hosfelt Gallery, New York, opening January 6, 2007.
