Huaqi Liu

Your work often connects clouds with the concept of destiny. How did you first discover this poetic association, and how has it influenced your artistic journey?

The association between clouds and destiny emerged for me from my Chinese cultural background, where the character for “destiny” (运) contains the character for “cloud” (云). This discovery was both surprising and deeply poetic: it suggested that destiny, which often feels abstract and intangible, could be embodied by the ever-changing image of clouds. Clouds are guided by invisible forces such as wind, atmosphere, and climate, much like human lives are shaped by circumstances beyond our control.

This realization became the foundation of my artistic journey. Clouds are never fixed; they shift in form, texture, and color, mirroring the uncertainties and transformations of identity, migration, and belonging that I explore in my work. Through painting, I seek to capture both the material presence of clouds and their symbolic meaning, creating a space where viewers can reflect on their own relationship to fate, culture, and environment. In many ways, clouds have become the lens through which I approach painting, guiding me toward new materials, processes, and questions that continue to evolve with my practice.

Huaqi Liu | Clouds series | 2025

As an immigrant artist, how does your personal experience of migration shape the way you paint and think about clouds?

Migration has profoundly shaped how I paint and think about clouds. Clouds appear and form in different spaces and environments, carrying distinct features and shapes, just like people who embody their own characteristics and cultures. Yet, as destiny moves people across borders, clouds too are carried by the wind into new conditions. In both cases, transformation is inevitable: the original qualities remain, but they are reshaped by new surroundings, acquiring different cultural layers, ideas, and identities.

As an immigrant artist, I see this parallel as a way to understand both personal and collective experience. My paintings of clouds reflect not only their mutability in nature but also the way migration reshapes human identity. By layering different materials such as oil and ink, I mirror this process of change, where chance and environment leave their mark on the image. In this way, clouds become a metaphor for survival, renewal, and the creation of hybrid identities that carry traces of both past and present.

Huaqi Liu | Clouds series | 2024

Many of your paintings capture the fleeting and ever-changing forms of clouds. What is the role of impermanence in your work?

Impermanence plays a central role in my work because clouds embody the fleeting nature of existence. They appear, transform, and dissolve within moments, never repeating the same form twice. For me, this impermanence is not only a visual subject but also a philosophical way of seeing life. It reflects how identity, culture, and experience are continuously shifting, shaped by forces both within and beyond our control.

Destiny is particularly fascinating to me. It cannot be touched or seen, yet it is undeniably felt. Just as clouds are carried by the invisible wind, human lives are guided by unseen powers. We may not perceive the wind directly, but we sense its force through the shifting forms of clouds, much like we sense destiny through the transformations of our own lives.

When I paint clouds, I try to capture both their beauty and their temporality. My process of layering oil, ink, and other materials often resists permanence, allowing unpredictability, dissolving textures, and accidental marks to become part of the final image. In this way, my practice accepts change as essential, not something to resist.

Impermanence also echoes my own experience of migration. Moving between cultures is itself a state of constant transition—leaving, arriving, and redefining. By painting clouds, I embrace this transient quality and turn it into a language of resilience and renewal. Each impermanent moment of a cloud becomes a way to reflect on how people, too, carry traces of change, memory, and possibility within their shifting forms.

Huaqi Liu | Clouds series | 2025

Could you describe your process when creating a cloud painting? Do you work from observation, memory, or imagination?

My process of painting clouds follows two main paths. One is rooted in materials. I often bring together different mediums such as oil, ink, and other substances on surfaces like canvas, wood, or Xuan paper. The collision of these materials produces unpredictable outcomes—textures, stains, or dissolving marks that echo the uncontrollable transformations of real clouds. I see this unpredictability as essential, because it mirrors the way clouds are constantly reshaped by invisible forces in nature.

The other path comes directly from nature itself. I do not photograph or record clouds, because I want to avoid fixing them into a static image. Instead, I walk into nature and immerse myself in the sky, observing the movement, rhythm, and direction of clouds. Through this close attention, I absorb their spirit and mutability, which later re-emerges in the studio through memory and imagination.

In this way, my practice becomes a dialogue between material experimentation and lived experience in nature. One path allows chance to guide the image, while the other cultivates a more meditative awareness of impermanence. Together, they shape a painting process that is both intuitive and deeply connected to the philosophical questions at the heart of my work.

Huaqi Liu | Clouds series | 2024

Your work brings together cultural symbolism, philosophy, and material exploration. How do you balance these elements in your practice?

Balancing cultural symbolism, philosophy, and material exploration is at the heart of my practice, and for me they are not separate but deeply intertwined. Clouds are my primary subject because they carry symbolic meaning in Chinese culture, where they are closely linked to destiny and spirituality. This symbolism provides the foundation, giving my work a cultural and philosophical depth.

At the same time, I approach clouds as metaphors for broader human experiences such as migration, transformation, and impermanence. This is where philosophy enters, allowing me to reflect on questions of identity, fate, and the relationship between human beings and nature. My paintings become a space where these ideas are not explained directly but felt through the dynamics of form, texture, and atmosphere.

Material exploration is the way these concepts become tangible. By combining oil paint, ink, and other media on surfaces like canvas, wood, or Xuan paper, I allow each material to carry its own history while interacting unpredictably with others. The process mirrors the themes I explore: hybridity, chance, and transformation. In this way, cultural symbolism, philosophical thought, and material experimentation are not balanced as separate components, but rather merge into a single language that continually evolves through painting.

Huaqi Liu | Clouds series | 2024

Clouds appear in many cultures as metaphors for spirit, transience, or destiny. How does your Chinese cultural background specifically shape your interpretation of clouds?

My Chinese cultural background shapes the way I see clouds at the deepest level. In Chinese philosophy and language, clouds have long been connected to destiny and spirituality. The character for “destiny” (运) even contains the character for “cloud” (云), suggesting that fate itself is carried, like a cloud, by unseen forces. This poetic overlap has profoundly influenced my interpretation of clouds, because it makes them more than natural phenomena; they become carriers of meaning, symbols of life’s mutability, and signs of a spiritual aura within nature.

This perspective is also deeply connected to the I Ching (Book of Changes), which teaches that transformation is the underlying principle of the universe. It speaks of three layers of truth: “bian yi” (constant change), “bu yi” (certain patterns that remain), and “jian yi” (the simplicity underlying all complexity). Clouds embody these ideas perfectly. They are always in motion, constantly changing in form and texture, yet within their transformations there are rhythms and structures we recognize, and through them we glimpse the simplicity of natural law.

Growing up in this cultural context, I learned to see clouds as part of a larger cosmology where human beings, environment, and the universe are interconnected. In my paintings, I carry this tradition forward by using clouds as metaphors for destiny, migration, and the search for equilibrium in a shifting world. By weaving the symbolism of clouds with the wisdom of the I Ching, I hope to show how ancient philosophy continues to illuminate the uncertainties and transformations of our present lives.

Huaqi Liu | Clouds series | 2025

What artistic influences—painters, philosophers, or cultural traditions—have shaped your way of seeing and depicting clouds?

Several painters and traditions have shaped the way I see and depict clouds. From the Western canon, I am inspired by Claude Monet’s sensitivity to light and atmosphere, Mark Rothko’s exploration of spiritual depth through color, and Giorgio Morandi’s quiet attention to subtle variation. Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter resonate with me for their material experimentation and the way they confront history and memory, while Cy Twombly’s gestural language captures the fleeting quality of presence.

My father, a calligrapher, has also been a profound influence. Although I am not a professional calligrapher, learning from him gave me an appreciation for brushwork, rhythm, and the energy of the line, which continue to shape my paintings. Classical Chinese landscape painting and the philosophy of the I Ching (Book of Changes) further guide my thinking, where clouds and mist are metaphors for impermanence, destiny, and the interconnection between humanity and nature.

Together, these influences create a dialogue in my work. Western and Chinese traditions provide different but complementary languages, which I merge through material experimentation, so that clouds become not only visual subjects but also metaphors for migration, memory, and transformation.