Melding Magic and Realism with Caroline Liu

I am a painter, seamstress, and muralist who was living in Chicago the last several years, and now currently reside in the place where my spirit feels most at home—Albuquerque, NM. I graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelors in Fine Arts and went on to work in healthcare for a few years. From there, I specialized in working with adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This gave me so much perspective that I now realize fundamentally helped the trajectory of my life, identity, and arts practice.

My work explores all the facets of my identity throughout the last decade. In 2012, I experienced a freak accident that left me concussed. This changed the course of my life and my work started to reflect that. I created memory paintings that documented time and place. It grounded me and let me sort through trauma in so many therapeutic ways that it eventually allowed me to discover a huge part of myself that had been severely overlooked. I always had an inkling from years of working with adults on the spectrum, but it finally took many years of paintings and reflection to start paying more attention to the type of work I was creating and the ways in which I existed in the art world. I have always felt I never fully understand conversations or unspoken rules, like something was missing and, because of that, I felt like my work had gone largely unseen. I finally sought a diagnosis and in the beginning of 2020 where I was diagnosed as Autistic. It’s been a whirlwind of a journey that I’m so thankful to be on. Having this part of my identity nourished and highlighted has brought my work into a whole new level of understanding and adventure. I now aim to create fantastical narratives that bind together magic and realism, and that spark larger conversations of loss, joy, and the eternity of self.

I tend to work in two very distinct blocks of time that usually last between 2-3 months each. The first block is what I call my Absorption Period. During this period, I tend to not create artwork with purpose. I spend a lot of time dabbling in hobbies and creative experiments that bring me joy, while also spending more time in nature, lonesome meditation, and around animals. I truly desire to absorb life around me. I fill my life and, after a while, I am filled with so much good energy from the world around me that I feel like I’m about to burst. Once this feeling arrives, I know it’s time to start creating with purpose.

My second block of time is my Creating Period. During this time, all the information that I absorbed comes rushing out of me into fantastical narratives that evoke all my thoughts, feelings, and emotions. From there, I spend countless hours and days simultaneously creating dozens of paintings, several side projects, and numerous new experiments until I’ve explored every last area of my mind. I finish all my work at the same time, marvel at my intense productivity, and then enter another Absorption period.

I am currently exploring self portraits that bridge the gap between light and dark, encompassing the range of my emotions as a late-diagnosed Autistic person. Using colorful daydream-like visuals, I aim to center my past self alongside my newly blossoming identity. Having had to hide my authenticity for years- now really feels like the time to visually explore this new version of myself.

I communicate best through both visual and tactile experiences. Verbal communication and unwritten rules of society have always been my achilles heel, so finding expression through paintings and plushies gave me a voice that I did not have before. Art is how I communicate, how I relate to those around me, and how I regulate my own emotions. Without it, I would cease to exist.