About
Chinese-Canadian artist Kai Liu creates semi-abstract landscape paintings that examine nature, place, and perception through color, atmosphere, and layered form. Born and raised in China, Liu later relocated to Canada, where he worked as a graphic designer in Ontario before settling in British Columbia. He studied drawing and painting at Langara College and holds both a BFA and MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. His paintings draw from observed landscapes while moving freely between recognizable natural forms and abstraction. Influenced by Eastern principles of void, openness, and the passage of time, Liu uses shifting areas of color, light, and space to convey the experience of encountering a landscape.
• One-of-a-kind original painting measuring 24 inches high by 30 inches wide
• Created with acrylic and oil paint on canvas
• Horizontal semi-abstract landscape inspired by a summer shoreline
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the back by the artist
Liu approaches landscape as a space shaped by observation, memory, and perception. His compositions often begin with the natural world and gradually depart from literal representation as forms are simplified, layered, and reorganized through paint. Open areas are given an active role within the composition, reflecting Liu's interest in Eastern approaches to space and the relationship between presence and absence. As Liu explains, "Each work is an invitation to pause within these intervals, to navigate spaces where clarity and obscurity coexist, and to engage in the layered act of seeing."
