NIANZHANG LIU
Born in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, 1992.
Live and work in New York since 2019.
Matt Nianzhang Liu is an artist born and raised in Shenyang, China, and is currently based in New York City. Matt holds a Master’s degree from CUNY Brooklyn College and a Bachelor’s degree from the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts. Liu’s work is based on a practice of casual observance and sensitive composition, inspired by the different places he has lived in over the past several years. Much of his work addresses the suffering and loss brought on by the convergence of cultures through globalization and urbanization. Through capturing simple moments in time and space, he traces the cultural fusion and de-regionalization created by the movement of people across cities. He photographs and paints architecture, commercial spaces, people, man-made landscapes, and himself, in each case studying the formal characteristics that bridge specificity and familiarity in a person or place.
Education
LuXun Academy Of Fine Arts — BA, 2015. Majored in Fine Art (Sculpture)
City University of New York Brooklyn College — MFA, 2021. Majored in Fine Art( Photography)
Residency
Art Letters and Number artist residency, 2025
Exhibitions
<Living Like Summer Flowers>, Sculpture, LAFA Gallery, Shenyang, 2015
<INFINITY>, Video, ‘Opening Night’, SCAD Gallery, Atlanta, US, 2016
<Jet Lag>, Photography, SCAD Gallery, Atlanta, US, 2017
<Choices>, Photography, ‘LUSCIOUS RELICE’, Palazzo Velli Eventi EXPO, Roma, Italy, 2018.
<Out of Existence>, Solo Photography Exhibition, Ten Minutes Space, Shenyang, China. 2018
<Do Not Ask Me Where Is It>, <Self Portrait>, Photography, Brooklyn College MFA Opening Studio Night, Brooklyn, US, 2019
<CoronaVirus Is Not A Racist>, Digital Collage, Online Show ‘1000 Hours of Outrage’, 2020
<Wear A Mask If You Do Not Support Me!>, Digital Collage, Online Show ‘1000 Hours of Outrage’, 2020
<People from the Back>, <Do Not Ask Me Where Is It>, <Self Portrait>, Photography, ‘An Unofficial Gathering’ Group Exhibition, Smack Mellon, NY, US, 2021
<Self Portrait>, Photography, Group Exhibition ‘Almost End’, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art Altoona, Altoona, PA, US, 2021
<Tropicana>, Digital Painting, Group Exhibition ‘A City to Wear 3.0’, The Research House of Asian Arts, Chicago, IL, US, 2021
<Self Portrait>, Photography, Group Exhibition ‘Coping Reservoir’, The Box Factory Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, US, 2021
<Do Not Ask Me Where Is It>, Photography, Group Exhibition ‘Link Future’, SIA NYC, NY, US, 2022
<Around the Chaos>, Photography, Photo Independent Visual Art Fair, Online, 2022
<Portraits of Serious Life>, Photography, Photo Independent Visual Art Fair, Online, 2022
<Self Portrait>, Photography, Group Exhibition ‘Collective Rage’, Oregon Contemporary, Portland, US, 2022
<Around the Chaos>, Photography, Group Exhibition ‘Light Conversation Vol.3’, Oregon Contemporary, Portland, US, 2022
<Around the Chaos>, Photography, Group Exhibition ‘8x12’, FLOOR_Gallery, Seoul, Korea, 2022
<Around the Chaos>, Photography, Group Exhibition 'Wasteland', BanShan Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2022
<Portraits of Serious Life>, Photography, Group Exhibition 'Der Greif - 15th Anniversary', Pinakothek der Moderne, München, Germany, 2023
<Portraits of Serious Life>, Photography, Group Exhibition 'Beyond Faces', FLOOR_Gallery, Seoul, Korea, 2023
Awards
City Artist Corps Grants, New York Foundation of Art, 2021
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable Fund, 2022
Queens Art Fund, 2025
Publication
<Glimpse on Chinese Americans——New York, New York>, News Report, Published by Polar Day News Studio, SOHU.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-3tS0DQ-XHsVXS3m5Q231Q
<Parking Lot>, Photography, Collected by China Photo Almanac 2018-2019, P371.
<Start in a Place: The Tonnele Jut>, Documentary Photography, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, NJ, US, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDnhjIKxu3g
<Nianzhang Liu-Do Not Ask Me, ‘Where Is It?’>, BROAD Magazine, 2021
https://www.broad.community/blog/2021/7/25/nianzhang-liu-do-not-ask-me-where-it-is