Engineers are often viewed as primarily left-brainers; not so with Professor Danny Liu. He is one of those with both sides of the brain operating exceptionally well. Danny was well-trained in mechanical and aerospace engineering, having earned a B.S. degree in Taiwan, a Master’s degree in the U.S., and a Ph.D. degree in the U.K. He then had a demonstrable career in leading aircraft corporations before embarking on his career in academia as a professor at Arizona State University. He was also a founder of a very successful start-up offering specialized services to the aerospace industry internationally. His academic and industrial accomplishments are highly acclaimed, as evidenced by the awards and honors he has received. However, as early as his college days, he had already exhibited his musical talents as a university symphony violinist. He launched Taipei’s first string quartet when he was 19 years old and the National Taiwan University String Orchestra when he was 20 years old. On the other hand, his flair for art and drawings was also evident as he first mounted a joint exhibit when he was an undergraduate. His works included drawing, watercolor, oil and etching.
Danny is a man in search of beauty and knowledge from multiple angles. The aerospace engineering discipline exemplarily practiced by Danny calls for curiosity , conjecture and creativity, combined with logic and known facts, to push for discoveries in the novel structures in mathematical formulae and practical implementation. As he has demonstrated, a musical composition requires one’s imagination to realize the little dots in a score as resonated by one’s inner voice; the brushes in painting represent an artist’s inspiration and boldness in pursuit of aesthetic expression.
As a Professor Emeritus of the Arizona State University, Danny has revived his earlier artistic interests, first, by establishing a studio in Danshui, nearby Taipei, and then, exhibiting landscapes paintings by him and his late father in Taipei in 2014. Underneath his brushstrokes sweeping across the open sky of Arizona and misty mountains of Taiwan, an appreciative and inquisitive personality beams through.
I am often impressed by the breadth and depth of Danny’s pursuits, and his enthusiasm to venture beyond confines. There is only one world and one culture: segregation of disciplines between arts and sciences is unnecessary. His ability to have different and interesting chapters in life also enlightens our mind, expands our senses, and opens our eyes to the astounding possibilities beyond the daily grind.
It is my hope that while appreciating Danny’s artistic works, we are encouraged to go beyond our own boundaries, and have the thirst to explore new territories. If so, then there will be more unbridled people like Danny around us.
Prof Wei Shyy, Executive Vice-President & Provost
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Danny Liu is a full-fledged artist, who is also an Emeritus Professor of Arizona State University; the founder and the former president of ZONA Technology; A Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; two-time Ronald Reagan Gold medalists; and a member of President Bush’s small business advisory council.
He earned his BSME from National Taiwan university, his MSAE from Georgia Institute of Technology, and his PhD form University of Southampton, UK. Danny Liu spent 10 years of his youth in Taipei (since 1950). Loving the arts, in the late 50’s, then violinist Li Tai-Hsiang invited Danny and other two NTU string players to form the Little String Quartet – the first such quartet in Taipei. It was in his college days in the 1960s that he started his painting career, when he showed his work in a group exhibition with several outstanding student painters in the art department of National Taiwan Normal University.
He has three distinctive periods in his painting career: his college days (1960s); California and Arizona (1980s-2000s); and Danshui,Taiwan (2011-). In 2013 he held two painting exhibitions in the Arizona State Capitol Museum and in the Phoenix City Hall under the auspices of the Taipei-Phoenix sister-city program. In 2014，he was invited by the Capital Art Center of Taipei to exhibit his paintings with those of his late father Liu Tien-call. Akin to Tonalism, his recent landscapes are usually in darker hues, contrasted by luminous light and shadow, making evocative atmospheric effects, with brush strokes sweeping over the open sky of Arizona and the misty mountain air of Taiwan.
He has been a resident of Tempe and Scottsdale, Arizona since 1982. In 2010, he joined the working artist studio in East Thomas Plaza of Scottsdale. In 2011, he returned to Taipei, and established the Mt Airoset Red Forest Studio in Danshui.
More about Danny Liu: https://en-dannyliuartist.weebly.com/
3:30 pm Ceremony (Refreshments after Ceremony)
4:30 - 5:30 pm Gallery Tour
Ping Yuan and Kinmay W Tang Gallery
English
Officiating Guests
Prof Danny Liu, Artist
Prof Wei Shyy, Executive Vice-President & Provost, HKUST
Ms Diana Chan, University Librarian, HKUST
Gallery Tour
Guest Talk by Prof Danny Liu: My Horizon
Date: 25 February 2016
Time: 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Venue: Multi-Function Room, LG4
Moderator: Dr Anna Kwong, Program Director, HKUST Center for the Arts
Language: English
Register: All are welcome
HKUST faculty, staff and students: Library Event Registration (Closed)
Others: E-mail library@ust.hk
Enquiries: 2358 6710
Four decades of Danny’s prime years were spent in aerospace science. He felt that he has restrained somewhat the global view of his horizon. Nonetheless, he has kept abreast of the art world with keen interest. In this talk, he will discuss his views and thoughts on the interrelation of science and art, starting from the late 19th century to the present days. After a brief review on the history of aerospace science and arts in the modern era, he will address the following questions during the talk:
- Do Science and Art share the same origin?
- What have been the mutual feedbacks between them?
- What are the similarities and disparities between them in terms of their approach and format?
- What are the unexpected and obscure landscapes he discovered in modern Science and Art?
- His views of art, or Why does he paint?
Students will get course hours after attending the Talk for fulfillment of Healthy Lifestyle (HLTH1010) Course Requirements.
- 非常喜欢《魔島》
- 山水2014遠眺很美《觀音山》五幅畫站得愈遠愈覺像真。有時近看未必是最好的欣賞角度. Thanks for letting me know that ! I love 《The Wicked Island》as well. If the light can be dimmer that would be better for people to appreciate ‘Near Dusk ‘ Nice !!
- 很美 , 尤其几幅在LG1展出的科大风景画色彩十分美妙.
- 謝謝刘教授的作品，希望以后我也能將绘画的夢好坚持下去!
- 每一幅都很漂亮 ! 在繁忙中得歇息 , 樂事乜. 尤愛《婺源》 , 尤愛《山水》, 心靈在那為藍与緣 , 雲与霧中得抚摸 . 很舒服. 我最喜歡寂海.
- I loved your ‘sea of silence’ Painting !
- 印象最深刻的是《無尾灣》＋分調皮又帶詩意 . 我猜大概是指看不見盡頭的意思, 我猜大概是指看不見盡頭的意思 , 又或者是對未來的寄托 , 過去的返朔………涵意多元；此外 , 很喜歡天色的多彩及漸變 , ＋分靈動 , 謝謝 !
- 贊 ! 頗有靈动之感 , 可为佳作 !
- 天上有云 , 云下有人。有人便有人家 , 自然給予人类的美好如空氣一般, 一直就在我们身边。愿惜这美好!
- Your paintings remind me of some beautiful memories I used to have ,especially the poppy flower. Wish I could be liked you one day.
- 腹有詩畫氣自滿 , 善慕這樣的人
- Wonderful . I love your work. Thanks for such nice view of Mind.
- 您的画让我感动 , 遺憾小時候沒有去学畫画 .
- Your work make me fall in love with painting. Hope one day I can see more your excellent of works
- 捕捉天和氣的色泽实属不易 , 虽是油画却有水墨的意境.
- 跟着画宒看山看水看天看云 , 有另一番触动和享受 , 謝謝 !
- 这些画很美 ! 春水初生 , 春林初茂.
- 水影山魂 , 劉公詩筆 , 壯哉美地 , 無量有雲.
- 此畫有創意 , 阅後即留所感
Ping Yuan and Kinmay W Tang Gallery
Library Hours