MSP Terminal 1, Gallery C6
April 29, 2026 - April 27, 2027
Our Connection with Water is a series of paintings by Wenwen Liao that bridges personal memory and place, connecting her childhood by the sea in China with her present life in Minnesota. Water serves as both subject and metaphor, reflecting the deep cultural and environmental ties Minnesotans have to the state’s lakes and waterways while also evoking themes of movement, change, and continuity.

Created on rice paper using traditional Chinese pigments and ink, the works draw from classical techniques while embracing a distinctly contemporary approach. Liao builds layered surfaces with bold color and expressive brushwork, creating a sense of depth and energy that departs from conventional expectations of the medium. Figures and scenes are rendered with a sense of openness and curiosity, capturing moments of childhood wonder that resonate across cultures.

Liao, whose paintings depict tranquil moments through various themes, chose water as the unifying element for this collection. Fluid, reflective, and ever-changing, Our Connection with Water invites viewers to consider their own relationship to place, memory, and the natural world.

About the Artist

Wenwen Liao’s practice is grounded in a lifelong engagement with Chinese painting, shaped by her upbringing in a seaside city in southern China and the influence of her father, a traditional painter. She studied animation and film at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and later earned her MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. After working as a graphic designer, she turned fully to painting, developing a style that both honors and expands the conventions of traditional Chinese art. Her work often features children, animals, and imagined natural worlds, evoking innocence and wonder. Informed by her background in animation, her compositions suggest movement and narrative, inviting viewers to imagine stories beyond the frame. Through this approach, Liao creates contemplative spaces that offer a sense of calm in an increasingly complex world.

wenwenliao.art