Yijun Liao Explained

Pixy Liao (Yijun Liao)
Birth Place:	Shanghai, China
Nationality:	Chinese
Field:	Photography, art
Training:	University of Memphis
Works:	Experimental Relationship
Awards:	NYFA Fellowship in photography, Santo Foundation Individual Artist Awards, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival Madame Figaro Women Photographers Award, Enfoco New Works Awards Fellowship, LensCulture Exposure Awards, etc

Yijun Liao, also known as Pixy Liao, is a Chinese artist, living in New York City.

Biography

Liao was born in Shanghai. She currently lives in Brooklyn.^[1] Liao received an MFA in photography from the University of Memphis.

She is mostly known for her series Experimental Relationship. The series depicts her with her younger Japanese partner, Moro. The elaborate photography depicted challenges gender norms in regards to media and sexual expression. Her photography attempts to change the way society sees nudity and media through the lens of a whole new perspective.^{[2] [3]}

Liao is a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Santo Foundation Individual Artist Awards, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival Madame Figaro Women Photographers Award, En Foco's New Works Fellowship and LensCulture Exposure Awards. She has been an artist in residence for University of Arts London, School of Visual Arts RISO Lab, Pioneer Works, Light Work, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Center for Photography at Woodstock and Camera Club of New York.^[4]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• 2008 Experimental Relationship, Adam Shaw Studio, Memphis, TN
• 2011 Memphis, Tennessee, Chinese American Art Council, New York City
• 2013 The Second Story of Two Stories, Kips Gallery, Seoul, Korea
• 2013 Let's Make Love, the Camera Club of New York, New York City
• 2015 Experimental Relationship, Circuitous Succession Gallery, Memphis, TN^[5]
• 2016 Some Words are just between Us, curated by Sophia Cai, First Draft Gallery, Sydney, Austra^{[6] [7] [8]}
• 2016 Venus As A Boy, LEO XU Projects, Shanghai, China^{[9] [10] [11]}
• 2017 Lady and Gentleman, Galleri Vasli Souza, Malmö, Sweden^[12]
• 2018 Pixy Liao, curated by Roussell, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival, Xiamen, China^[13]
• 2019 Une Relation Expérimentale the Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France^[14]
• 2019 Experimental Relationship Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia, Italy^[15]
• 2019 Open Kimono Chambers Fine Art, New York City^[16]
• 2019 Carry the Weight of You Galleri Vasli Souza, Oslo, Norway
• 2020 Two Heads Stieglitz 19, Antwerp, Belgium
• 2020 Experimental Relationship (for your eyes only, or maybe mine, too) curated by Henry Lu Centre A, Vancouver, Canada^[17]
• 2021 Your Gaze Belongs To Me curated by Holly Roussell, Fotografiska, New York

Group exhibitions

• 2015 Evidence, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK^[18]
• 2015 No Holds Barred—Young Contemporary Art from China, curated by Boyi Feng and Lars Jonnson, OPEN ART Biennial, Örebro, Sweden^[19]
• 2016 The Real Thing, Flowers Gallery, New York City^{[20] [21] [22]}
• 2016 WECHAT - A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art, curated by Barbara Pollack, Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, TX^{[23] [24]}
• 2016 Bagsim, chi K11 Art Museum in Shanghai, Shanghai, China^[25]
• 2016 "When We Become Us", Capsule Shanghai^[26]
• 2017 NSFW: Female Gaze, Museum of Sex, New York^[27]
• 2019 Holly Mosses, curated by Nick Yu, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong^[28]
• 2020 The Body Electric, curated by Dr Shaune Lakin, National Gallery of Australia, Sydney
• 2020 HOME SWEET HOME, curated by Julia Reichelt, Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt^[29]
• 2022 I have not loved (enough or worked), curated by Rachel Cieśla, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia ^[30]

Publications

• Experimental Relationship Vol.1 2007–2017. Jiazazhi, 2018. . Edition of 500 copies.^{[31] [32]}

External links

• • Huffington Post: Couple's Gender-Bending Photo Series Challenges Our View Of Traditional Relationships
• Dazed: What happens when men and women switch roles?
• Vice: 'MATTE' Magazine Presents Pixy (Yijun Liao)
• British Journal of Photography: Pixy Liao's Experimental Relationship charts a decade of love
• Pixy Yijun Liao on Artsy
• CNN: 'I was much more dominant': Pixy Liao's surreal photography disrupts relationship stereotypes

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pixy Liao | Light Work. 14 May 2015.
2. Web site: Artist subverts gender norms with clever photography series . 9 December 2015 . Annie Stevens.
3. Web site: Couple's Gender-Bending Photo Series Challenges Our View Of Traditional Relationships . . 3 February 2014 . 9 December 2015.
4. Web site: Yijun Liao: Experimental Relationship. 8 August 2013.
5. Web site: Pixy Liao explores gender roles in art, relationships in "Experimental Relationship" at Circuitous . 9 December 2015 . Mark Richens.
6. Web site: Some words are just between us . 1 August 2016 . Sophia Cai.
7. Web site: THE HANGING: SOME WORDS ARE JUST BETWEEN US BY PIXY LIAO . 9 August 2016 . Lachlan Herd. 9 August 2016 .
8. Web site: LOCATION, THE FEMALE GAZE AND THE WARMTH OF THE INTERNET . 12 August 2016 . Kathleen Linn. 11 August 2016 .
9. Web site: Pixy Liao at Leo Xu Projects . 1 November 2016 . Arthur Solway.
10. Web site: Yijun Liao, Venus As A Boy . 6 October 2016 . Jiahuan Li.
11. Web site: Artist Yijun Liao's first solo show in her hometown . 6 October 2016 . Wenqian.
12. Web site: See men and women exchange roles of sex and power in China . 1 March 2017 . Ashleigh Kane.
13. Web site: 2019-03-11. Pixy Liao - Experimental Relationship. Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival.
14. News: 2019-07-23. 6 Photographers to Look Out For at the Arles Festival By Daphné Anglès. The New York Times. 23 July 2019. Anglès. Daphné.
15. Web site: 2019-05-14. Fotografia Europea : Pixy Liao. www.loeildelaphotographie.com. 14 May 2019.
16. Web site: 2019-03-11. Pixy Liao: Open Kimono - Exhibitions - Chambers Fine Art. www.chambersfineart.com.
17. Web site: 18 June 2020. PIXY LIAO'S RADICAL INTIMACY: "EXPERIMENTAL RELATIONSHIP (FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, OR MAYBE MINE, TOO)".
18. Web site: Derby stages top international photographic festival, Format 15 . 9 December 2015.
19. Web site: Pixy Yijun Liao . Boyi Feng.
20. Web site: The Real Thing . 28 January 2016 . Lara Atallah.
21. Web site: Juxtapoz: "THE REAL THING" @ FLOWERS GALERY . 28 January 2016.
22. Web site: PDN: Constructing and Deconstructing Romance . 1 February 2016 . Rebecca Robertson.
23. Web site: Chinese Artist Challenges Gender Identities through 'Experimental Relationship' . 21 April 2016 . Nikki Tripp.
24. Web site: We Chat: A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art . 6 July 2017 . Cindy Lisica.
25. Web site: Critic's Guide: Shanghai . 16 August 2016 . Gary Zhexi Zhang. 16 August 2016 .
26. Web site: When We Become Us. Capsule Shanghai.
27. Web site: The Art of NSFW? See Provocative Works of Feminist Erotica From the Museum of Sex . 17 June 2017 . Sarah Cascone. 10 June 2017 .
28. Web site: HOLY MOSSES . 1 March 2021 . KAITLIN CHAN.
29. Web site: TRAUTES HEIM. 2020-09-01.
30. Web site: Exhibition review: I have not loved (enough or worked). 2022-12-12.
31. Web site: Conscientious: Experimental Relationship . 3 September 2018 . Jörg Colberg.
32. Web site: Collector Daily: Pixy Liao, Experimental Relationship Vol 1. (2007-2017). 14 August 2018 . Olga Yatskevich. 14 August 2018.