Kathy Liu is an Eora/Sydney-based contemporary artist whose intuitive approach to abstract painting invites an enchanting, ethereal and entirely singular mix of fluid and figurative painterly forms. Casting the canvas as a conduit for her adventures through imaginative worlds, Liu’s open-ended process embraces serendipitous possibilities as pools of abstract colour begin to coalesce and enigmatic, inchoate figures emerge through diaphanous wafts of colour. Suggesting hazy memories, nocturnal musings or half-remembered dreams, the resulting paintings pulse with poeticism, emotion, a sense of magic and effervescent movement.
After completing her fine arts studies at the National Art School, Liu captured the attention of our curatorial team as a breakout star among the finalists of the 2023 National Emerging Art Prize and was invited to presented her work in successful group and solo shows at Michael Murrurundi. The artist was selected for the 2024 edition of Michael Reid’s annual Painting Now survey show at our flagship Eora/Sydney gallery before making her solo debut at the gallery in April 2025 with her widely celebrated series If you wait for long.
“Her work’s gossamer quality sees fragmentary images on the cusp of emerging or just fading away – an ambiguity that rhymes with Liu’s fluid, freeform approach and the happy accidents of her abstract practice,” noted an expansive Belle magazine profile published alongside the opening of Painting Now. Liu will present a new body of work at Sydney Contemporary 2025 and is currently working on a solo exhibition slated for early 2026. On the eve of our announcement of her representation by Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin, we visited the artist’s studio to discuss her brilliant career to date and the ideas and influences that inform her current painting practice.
Read our interview with Kathy Liu below. To receive early previews and priority access to her forthcoming series, please email dean@michaelreid.com.au
What were some of your earlier artistic influences? How do they continue to inform your painting practice?
Among my many early artistic influences, French Symbolist artist Odilon Redon has been, and continues to be, one of the most significant. His practice of suggestive art and embrace of uncertainty inspired me to let my intuition guide my process. Redon’s acceptance of the accidental and indeterminate is an aspect of his practice that echoes within my own.
What initially drew you to painting? Are there themes, references or approaches that you returned to?
I just love the act of painting, naturally. Perhaps I was simply drawn to the sheer joy of painting and the profound sense of freedom that comes with it. My approach to painting is highly intuitive. Often, I begin a painting abstractly without a pre-set concept, letting the colours and shapes emerge on their own. Further along in the process, I find the ideas within the painting and bring these out. Sometimes, it feels less like I’m the one creating these paintings but more as if I’m merely there to help the artworks find their own storylines. This process reflects my subconscious mind, bringing up themes and narratives from my past life that I have almost forgotten.
What led you to pursue painting as a career?
When I first came to Australia as an international student, I studied in an area quite different from art. But after working in an office environment for a few years, I felt I was moving further away from what I truly loved. There came a point when I could no longer bear it, so I changed my career completely. I went to the National Art School to complete my fine art degree. I finally felt like I was at home and I knew that practising art was definitely where I belonged.
What have been some of your favourite career experiences?
I will say each painting has some breakthrough moments, which I really enjoy, and that also gives me motivation to keep painting. Five years of studying at the National Art School was my life-changing experience, where I met artists, philosophers, poets and makers. I am pleased I graduated from NAS with the COSO Architecture and Landscape in Painting prize. Since then, I have also been selected for various art prizes, but being a finalist at the National Emerging Art Prize in 2023 was especially a turning point for me. It provided me with opportunities to collaborate with the Michael Reid Galleries.
What are some of the ideas and experiences that have informed your more recent work?
I have always loved ancient frescoes, such as the Pompeii wall paintings. I am also very interested in mythologies and physics (the concept of time and entropy, et cetera). While I do not consciously try to represent them in my art, I think they do influence my aesthetic and process and are all potential inspirations for me.
How would you describe your approach to abstraction?
I start my paintings abstractly, thinking of surface, composition, colour, et cetera. I try not to decide on a fixed subject at an early stage. These abstract elements work to connect with a feeling or bring out a blurry impression, which is quite personal. There’s an undercurrent behind these abstract elements, so the painting suggests a potential narrative. It’s as if I’m presenting a question without a fixed answer, but I am happy without knowing the answer. I love colours and tones and how they work together to explain a pictorial space. I do not use paint heavily; rather, a lot of the time, I deduct from the painted surface. The original surface of linen or cotton itself can be part of the painting, too.
How has your work’s expansion in scale influenced your approach?
Painting on a larger scale requires whole-body movement, which allows for a more immersive art-making process. With a large-scale painting, I can spend more effort on building the surface and also have room for more details to develop. I don’t often work on a small study first and then enlarge it to a large scale, but instead go straight to the big canvases. I make lots of mistakes, correct them, redo, destroy, and redo again, all on the same painting. The paintings become a record of the whole process over a period of time. It shows my thinking, struggle and breakthrough all together.
How do you feel your painting practice is evolving with the series you’re currently working on?
I feel more freedom with how to apply or deduct paints, and also more focused on the surface and how pictorial space is developing. With the expansion in scale, I’m trying to create a more immersive experience for the viewers. I am looking forward to participating in this year’s Sydney Contemporary Michael Reid group exhibition and my solo exhibition at the beginning of next year.
Photographs by Jonathan Cohen.
