Beili Liu is an artist and a teacher. Today she is an associate professor of art at UT-Austin after coming to the US from Jilin, China and studying in Michigan and Tennessee. Her installation pieces use so many different materials from typical ones like thread and wool to Chinese spirit money.
The above is made from tightly coiled Chinese spirit money and is burned on one side, a traditional action as an offering to those in the afterlife. I love how large it is and how different it may look from one side to the next.
The above piece is made of the same materials but shows the ying/yang of the lively and burned spirit money at the same time.
I love how Liu shows various folklores through her works – the above are red thread coils that connect to one other coil. This symbolizes, “when children are born, invisible red threads connect them to the ones whom they are fated to be with.” These weightless installations en masse move around as a whole in the air.
I have no idea how she creates the coils – there must be something holding them together – glue? I have no idea but whatever it is – it’s time consuming!
The above and below piece, Toil, might be my favorite. The cones are made from silk organza, cut by burning incense and rolled into the cone shape before being affixed to the wall. I love it because it looks as though they could be underwater, coral structures but instead they’re weightless in a room. Again, I have no idea how Liu gets them to stay that way.
Don’t they look like seahorses or like little fish could swim right out of them?
This piece is primarily made of wool and looks a bit like sea kelp to me.
It also king of looks like ink falling in water like those new Mio flavor things I see on TV.
Tags: china, installation, recycled materials, sculpture, Texas, textiles, thread, weaving, wool