Kristen Liu-Wong’s Paintings Pack a Tentacle Wallop to the Tits
If the extraterrestrial women in Kristen Liu-Wong's paintings made an online dating profile, on the authority of the artist, it would read like this:
Age: 1,025 years old
Occupation: Former warrior priestess, currently between careers, dog-walker on the side
Interests: Reading, smoking Parliaments, hunting (people and boars)
What are you looking for in a mate: laid-back, good sense of humor, sturdy skull
Bio: I was born and raised in the shadow of the 10th moon. It might surprise you but I was an English/Philosophy major in college, and only became a warrior priestess by chance! Go on a date with me to find out more ;)
The 26-year-old artist's new series of brazen buxom babes—titled Conflict/Resolution—is on view during her first major exhibition at Corey Helford Gallery through October 21.
In it, she explores themes of violence, aggression, death and "the resulting chaos that can come with all of those human impulses," according to Kristen. "Battle scenes, wrestling matches, and jet ski getaways act as metaphors for the idea of conflict, both with others and with the dual parts of our own natures."
Influenced by cartoon science-fiction, Greek epics, Catholic symbolism, and Shunga imagery, Kristen's saturated Tumblr aesthetic also retains an emotional complexity. It's timeless but ephemeral. Melodramatic but impersonal.
In between giggling about sex and causing serious #GirlCrush, the San Francisco native talked with Beyond The Interview about her solo show, space pirates, and mixing the carnal with the banal.
BTI: You've said that as you became more comfortable with your own sexuality, your artwork also moved in that same direction. Is there more to discover?
Kristen Liu-Wong: Yeah, and I'm still not perfectly comfortable with sex, even now. I feel like sex is always going to be a little mysterious. I don't just, like, "get it." I don't understand everything. I'm still learning, but I definitely know more than when I first started having sex. I'm more comfortable with it personally happening to me, too, or personally thinking about my own sexuality. Whereas before, I kind of had to distance myself from it because it was still just so weird.
BTI: I love the way you examine the idea that sexiness and sexuality don't have to be "pretty." What was it like discovering that as woman?
KLW: I've never been The Beautiful One. Nobody's ever like, "oh Kristen, the pretty girl!" They'd be like, "oh Kristen, the (hopefully) funny one," or "the smart one." So I know I've always had to rely on my other talents to make me feel good about myself. But that doesn't mean that you still can't feel beautiful sometimes. So it's just that idea of non-traditional beauty. I find interesting people beautiful, too, so I think it's more interesting to me to create people who don't look like supermodels. I want them, if anything, to look like superwomen, all buff and shiny.
BTI: The women you've created are caught in the act of subverting some type of disaster in a faraway location, with ray guns, ticking time-bombs, sinking ships, even each other. Are they at war?
KLW: Yeah. I didn't want to be too direct about it, with the whole narrative of what the war is—the details aren't important to me, but I tried to have women-in-black versus women-in-purple, just to hint that there are these two sides, and you're just getting snapshots of their conflict and them duking it out. I didn't want it to be labeled as, "this is good versus evil," because the whole thing is, nobody is completely good or completely evil in any war. Or in any situation.
BTI: But they're definitely battling some shit out, and you're lucky enough to get a peek into it.
KLW: Yeah.
BTI: What part of the female identity or experience haven't you explored that's on your hit list?
KLW: I really don't know. I don't plan things out like that. I do pieces or paintings as things happen to me and come to me. Like, if I ever become a mother, motherhood would probably be something I would want to explore. And then as I age, I won't be painting young women anymore. I'm probably going to be painting older women and looking at mortality and loss. So I know those things are comin’ for me, just like time comes for us all.
Who knows where I'll be at in my 30s with my sexuality. Maybe I'll want babies, and I won't be able to have to them and that could be a whole issue. Who knows? Right now, I dread children, but, like, what if I had the opposite problem? How much worse that would be?
BTI: I've been thinking about that a lot, especially with the Kardashians and how they're just popping them out.
KLW: Seriously! They're like rabbits.
BTI: And they're having them in other people's bodies, too!
KLW: Like Body Snatchers. Pretty soon we'll all be having Kardashian babies come out of us.
BTI: Hah! Speaking of which, what's the relationship between sex and violence in your work?
KLW: They're pretty closely related because I think they're related in real life, too, which a lot of people don't necessarily think of unless it's, like, S&M. But everyone likes a little spank. Some of the most violent acts have happened because of sex. So [sex and violence] are very connected in my mind.
BTI: What about sex and food?
KLW: For certain foods that I paint, like the noodles or gutted fish, or I once had a girl licking an abalone, those are obviously sexual foods. I like the way they bring up images of slurping or moisture. But then if I just paint something like Arizona Iced tea, that's just because I'm really big on juices and stuff. I also like to include mundane details that people can identify with because these worlds and these women are so other-worldly. But by putting in details that are just boring or apply to everyone, it grounds the women. So you can see yourself in them.