10 Questions with Skyler Yixian Liu

Skyler Yixian Liu is a Chinese artist and printmaker who works and lives in London, UK. Her works focus on traumas, memories, grief, the spirituality of human experiences, and loss. She studied Illustration and Visual Media at the London College of Art for her Bachelor's degree and pursued a Master's in Print at the Royal College of Art in 2021.

The artist explores the internal struggles of anxiety and traumas throughout her series of stone lithography prints. She questions the existence of nothingness in the distortion of portraits. She would use turpentine touche wash to paint the disproportioned faces on the stone and add marks to create layers of textures. These marks metaphorically act as the doubt of her identity as a Chinese female artist, altered by the loss of memories of her traumatic upbringing from her childhood.

Dreams are the mirrors of the real world. Skyler often works with illusions that appear in her dreams, which might reflect the emotions she has long repressed. She captures those fragments of illusional memories, using the process of abrasion and dissolution through stone lithography to signify loss and turmoil. Her works become the emotional connection between her and her subconscious mind.

Skyler's works conceptualised memory as a collective body of prints, which can be faded, repressed, and distorted. In the long term, therefore, they can be lost over time.

Skyler has exhibited widely in the UK in the past few years, including the group exhibition 'Thinking for Printing' with the Printmaker Council at the Bankside Gallery in London. She has also showcased her works in Belgium and Germany and has an upcoming group show in Finland by the end of 2023. She is an active member of the Greenwich Printmaker Gallery and the Printmaker Council member.

www.aspexiimages.com | @aspexi_images

ARTIST STATEMENT

In the article Untying the Knot: Memory and Forgetting in Contemporary Print Work' by Australian artist Deidre Brollo, she describes the phenomenon of memory using the words' impression' and 'imprint,' 'trace', and 'recollection.' She conceptualised memory as a print made upon the soul; prints and photographs are both media that restore information about our memories. Therefore, Brollo suggests that memory is an active process rather than one of passive storage.

Skyler worked on a series of stone lithography in her study at the Royal College of Art, focusing on disproportion portraits and photography, recollections of her dreams and childhood. In her work, 'Loss in Time,' Skyler references Ocean Vuong's book, 'On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous,' where she quotes, 'the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil, and still it holds nothing. The eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty.' Skyler emphasizes emotion's numbness by painting the water-like background's swirl using lithograph touche, compared to the stillness of the portrait in the center, staring quietly into the emptiness.

Necessarily, Skyler's works are the documentation of her psychological healing process. It is a journey of self-understanding, acceptance, and forgiveness.

INTERVIEW

What is your artistic background, and how did you start experimenting with art?

I started to draw as a child. The journey first began on the walls. When I was in kindergarten, my teachers saw my talent: I could use color and shapes as no other kids could. Then my mother took me to art classes, and I started to learn how to draw from there. Back in China, studying art wasn't all about being experimental. To be able to study art academically in universities, participants need to pass specific exams, which include traditional life drawings of plaster statues and color exams, including oil painting, etc. In middle school, I was dedicated to studying life drawing, but it wasn't my strong suit. I studied in my high school in Canada, where I took art classes and learned more about being experiential with art and creative thinking process.

Why are you an artist, and when did you first decide to become one?

I didn't consider myself an artist until my tutor for my Master's Degree told me I was making artist-quality works. Nina Simone once said in an interview, 'How can you be an artist and not reflect the time?' Being an artist means carrying the responsibility to share the generation's voices and reflect on the time we are living. Art is subjective, and it can be in the form of anything, and artists, take on every life as the inspiration for our creative process.

Lost in Time, Stone Lithography, 62x50cm, 2021 © Skyler Yixian Liu

You work with both illustration and printmaking. What do these two techniques have in common? And why did you choose them specifically?

I studied illustration for my bachelor's degree. I discovered printmaking in the school workshop space; it was well-established, and I learned most printmaking techniques, such as etching, relief printing, lithography, screenprint, monoprint, and more. My favorite techniques are lithography, etching, and relief print.
I don't consider illustration as a technique. It is a genre of artistic expression. On the other hand, printmaking is a tool to express our art. You don't have to be a printmaker to make prints. You can be an oil painter and draw on the copper plate to make an etching print. Printmaking doesn't limit itself to its category. Anyone can have fun and make a print.

In your work, you reflect on traumas, memories, and internal struggles. How much of your personal experience is reflected in your work?

All my works are based on my personal experience. I explore my inner world and emotions in my creative journey. Senses are essential in my works, whether to see, touch, or feel with one's heart. I believe we are spiritual beings with a human experience in this world, so my art documents my journey and growth. Coming from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, we all have unique stories about our upbringing. I am a highly sensitive person, so I feel a lot in situations and easily feel overwhelmed. It can be mentally exhausting, but as a creative individual, those feelings become my source of inspiration.

What would you like the viewers to get from your work, and what lessons would you like to teach through your art?

I do not wish to teach anyone lessons. My works are the reflection of my journey of self-healing and growth. As an artist, I need to make works that are honest and real to me. I reflect my stories and view of the world in my works; therefore, I encourage every artist to do so. I wish to connect emotionally and spiritually with people with my art.

Let's talk about your series Loneliness; what are the key themes behind this series?

Loneliness is a complex and unpleasant emotional response to isolation and lack of companionship. Loneliness was an illustration book I made in 2016 for my degree project. I moved to London in 2015 and spent a year living alone in a flat. I was new to the city and the country. I was alone often, didn't have friends, and didn't know anybody. I often felt alone being by myself. Also, I was pretty young at the time, started studying at university, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to achieve in my study. So I made a collection of drawings of me 'being alone,' and that's the book 'Loneliness.'

What do you ultimately want to communicate with Loneliness?

I think 'Loneliness' was about being alone in the urban environment, mentally and physically. It is common among young people starting in the big city. For me, it was being alone in my flat, exploring the city, and sometimes feeling homesick. Being alone isn't a bad thing. Humans are social animals, so it is our nature to want company and be surrounded by people. But sometimes, we can be surrounded by people, our family, and friends, and still feel unseen or misunderstood. And this is the loneliness I am worried about. I quoted David Levithan in my book, 'It would be too easy to say that I feel invisible. Instead, I feel painfully visible and entirely ignored.' Ultimately, we are looking for mutual understanding, the sense of a deep connection, and a spiritual connection of love. Although the book is titled 'Loneliness,' it is conclusively about love and self-acceptance.

Do you have anything else you would like to experiment with?

I would love to study more about ceramics, painting, and photography. I want to expand my horizons with printmaking. I adore the process of printmaking, it is very therapeutic, but art is limitless, and I want to extend my knowledge and skills to other media as well.

What are you working on right now? Are any exciting projects or exhibitions coming up soon?

I have two exhibitions coming up this year, one is Derby Print Open in June, and the other is a collaborative print project, which will be in Finland by the end of this year. I am working on a new series of photopolymer prints about collective memories based on the photographs I took on my holiday in China earlier this year.

Finally, what are your goals and resolutions for the new year?

My goals for this year are to complete the new series I am working on and, hopefully, have the works to show in the galleries. Then I would relocate to an art studio and start working on larger projects. Thank you for this interview opportunity.

Related Interviews