Liu
Lobbin Liu is a graphic designer based in Brooklyn. She sets her sights on not only something conventionally appealing but also something that people usually ignore, avoid, or consider taboo. In her works, you see how ordinary as well as unconventional sparks can be projected onto her practices and how the way of working influences the critical sight of her daily life. Intentionally or not, her works are rooted in the moments of discomfort within conventional beauty and allure. She seeks the poetic within the failures, dilemmas, confusions, clumsiness, frustrations, and stupidities that she deals with every day.
Lobbin works in visual design, digital interactives, spatial graphics, performance, and more. Her works try to create unconventional experiences by fusing senses and by merging disciplines. Her collaboration with scientists, engineers, and musicians reimagines and breaks the boundary of what role design plays in various contexts. Her works have been juried and awarded by Tokyo TDC, New York TDC, GDC committees, etc, and have been exhibited in New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Los Angeles, Paris, Shanghai, and more. She has been invited to talk and critique at multiple academic and artistic institutions in the United States like Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, Boston University, etc., and in China like Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Graphic Design in China Committee, Shenzhen Technology University and more. Lobbin holds a MFA from the Yale School of Art and a BFA from RISD.
Lobbin also publish under the name lob_in Press and work on branding under the name FDMT Design. To request for our work samples, please email lobbinliu@gmail.com
- 2023
- installation
- In March 2023, I attempted to herd a flock of six kites across the skies of New Haven, grazing a patch of sea in my hometown, Shenzhen. They were carried by the winds, wrapped around by the towering buildings in the city center, swaying and tumbling, barely reaching a depth of 1.7 fathoms (approximately three meters) before crashing miserably, broken on the ground, or entangled in tree branches. At that time, I ran and screamed on the New Haven Green, trying to control them with the strings, but I was utterly helpless and powerless and could not control anything. That is my failed work, “Nomadic, Collage I”.
- In May, I attemptedretried to fly pieces of Shenzhen’s sky on the ground of Edgewood Gallery. Six kites are constrained in the wood frame, rampaging around in vain and finding a way out until they are entangled with each other and get completely stuck. This video documents my second attempt, “Nomadic, Collage II.”