Amy Liu: Jeweled Realms

LATITUDE Gallery New York is pleased to present Jeweled Realms, a solo exhibition by Amy Liu, whose newest body of work meditates on the poetics of ornamentation, the inner life of objects, and the symbolic language of beauty. Drawing from a rich lineage of European painting and decorative arts, Liu reclaims the ornamental not as frivolous excess, but as a profound conduit of human longing, resilience, and transcendence.

In this series, Liu conjures a dreamlike world where lush, glistening surfaces shimmer with emotional charge. Her paintings—layered with undulating curves, chromatic exuberance, and tenderly rendered forms—are as much about the visual pleasure of embellishment as they are about its psychological and spiritual weight. Jewelry, fabric, and treasured keepsakes emerge not merely as adornment but as crystallized memories, luminous stand-ins for human warmth, intimacy, and aspiration.

Referencing the opulence of Ingres and Holbein, the elegance of Bronzino, and the magical surrealism of Remedios Varo, Liu’s compositions echo a historical grandeur while remaining unmistakably contemporary. Through her romanticized tableaux, she channels the decadent stillness of the Dutch Golden Age and the theatrical stylization of Tamara de Lempicka—blending maximalist aesthetics with deeply introspective narratives.

At the heart of Liu’s practice is a reimagining of the decorative as a form of emotional architecture. In her hands, ornament becomes armor, fantasy becomes refuge, and every jeweled surface becomes a gesture toward a brighter, imagined self. Jeweled Realms invites viewers into a sanctuary of symbolic light—where the act of decorating is recast as a deeply human impulse to transcend time, gravity, and grief.