Napa Valley Museum Yountville Announces Virtual Exhibition Of LUCY LIU: ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

The Napa Valley Museum Yountville's popular exhibition: "Lucy Liu: One of These Things Is Not Like The Others," is now available as an online virtual tour. This exhibition of paintings and sculpture by the award-winning actress, artist and advocate opened in February but has been closed since mid-March, when the Museum shut down due to COVID. The interactive 3D virtual tour allows visitors to virtually walk through the gallery as if they were there in person.

By clicking on artworks and video, viewers can see the works up close, while videos of Lucy in her studio provide virtual visitors with insight into her artistic process and inspiration. A title wall video includes a special message from Lucy welcoming visitors to the exhibition and explaining the meaning behind these deeply personal works of art.

The virtual tour is a fundraiser to help the Museum reopen its galleries. Reopening is tentatively scheduled for August 1, and the "Lucy Liu" exhibition will be extended in the Museum's Main Gallery through September. To view the virtual tour, visitors are asked to make a donation of any amount - suggested minimum $5 (Regular Admission was $15). The Museum is raising funds to enable it to make improvements to the galleries in light of COVID. A "We Love Lucy!" campaign "roll call" on the website recognizes virtual tour visitors, who have donated to help the Museum reach its $10,000 goal. Creation of the tour was made possible by a grant from the Napa County Board of Supervisors and by the members and supporters of the Museum.

"We are thrilled to give Lucy's fans all around the world the opportunity to see her extraordinary artwork through this virtual exhibition at the Napa Valley Museum Yountville," says Executive Director Laura Rafaty. "We were heartbroken that the museum closed only a month and a half after we opened, and so many people have reached out to us asking to see it before it closed. The Museum's Board and Staff are working hard to raise funds to reopen the Museum as soon as we can safely do so, but we need donations more than ever right now. Lucy has been wonderfully generous in allowing us to extend the exhibition through September and in granting permission for this tour, which preserves this first US museum exhibition of Lucy's work. Her thrilling works of mixed media artwork and sculpture are bold and exaggerated, yet shockingly intimate. They are intellectual, reverential and revolutionary. They challenge viewers to re-examine cultural and gender stereotypes, while always retaining an essential humanity, providing a moving, emotional experience at this unprecedented time."

Lucy Liu is an award-winning actress who has appeared in films, on television and on Broadway. She is also a respected director and dedicated UNICEF ambassador, advocating for children's health and protection since 2004. An accomplished artist whose work was exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore, Liu has created an impressive collection of deeply personal artworks, ranging from large-scale paintings to inventive mixed media works to intricate wood sculptures. The exhibit represents Liu's first U.S. museum exhibition.

Visitors can access the virtual tour by visiting: www.napavalleymuseum.org/lucyliu.

This exhibition "Lucy Liu: One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others," focuses on her wood sculptures and on oversized paintings inspired by Shunga, a form of erotic art based on the "ukiyo-e" or Japanese woodblock. It also features representative works from her "Totem" series including "41", in which intricate embroidered "spines" are paired with bold designs fashioned from fabric, paper and thread. Also on display are examples of her silkscreens, and artworks from the "Lost & Found" series, in which found objects are incorporated into books which become works of art themselves.

The exhibition also features video of the creation of her silkscreens and found object series, and other video and audio illustrating her influences and creative processes. It incorporates an example of traditional Japanese Shunga hand scroll, provided by San Francisco's Asian Art Museum.

"I'm so happy to collaborate with the Napa Valley Museum and to share my work with the community," said the artist Lucy Liu about the exhibition. "Art has been an important part of my life and development since I was a child; it helps cultivate imagination and also fosters critical thinking skills. Supporting lifelong arts education is imperative and I am thrilled to be a part of this important endeavor."

Due to adult subject matter, the Museum recommends that virtual visitors under age 18 obtain the permission of a parent.

The Museum is also offering a free virtual tour of its annual student-curated exhibition: "Not From Around Here," on its website at www.napavalleymuseum.org.

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