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When Kristen Liu-Wong first learned that Things Unseen would open on October 31st (Samhain/All Hallow’s Eve), she felt compelled to create an exhibition centring ghosts . Already a motif in her work, they appear as manifestations of subconscious desires and motivations. Things Unseen stretches that concept across an entire body of work, exploring the memories, obsessions and impulses that haunt us.
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Opening reception: Oct 31st, 5 - 8pm. This is a free event. As Beinart Gallery is a licensed venue, any minors attending the opening reception will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.
This exhibition will run from Nov 1st - Nov 22nd, and will coincide with Emma Black's Feral Bloom, and our Dark Art 2026 group exhibition.
Though Liu-Wong considers herself an ‘open-minded atheist’, she was raised ‘very Catholic’. Her scepticism began early: as a child, praying felt like talking to an imaginary friend, and she was unconvinced by the Virgin Birth or tales of Noah’s Ark. Organised religion, including the concept of an afterlife complete with Divine Judgement, felt to her, at best, empty—an attempt to rationalise or offer comfort for things no human has the answers to—and, at worst, manipulative, hypocritical, and an excuse to judge and persecute those who dared to think or act differently.
Despite these misgivings, Liu-Wong says, ‘I do know that the spark, the energy that makes life possible, is real and special, although where that energy goes once we die, I can’t say’. She remains drawn to the paranormal, enjoying tarot readings and astrological charts while retaining her scepticism. Comfortable with not having all the answers, Liu-Wong broadens the definition of ‘ghost’ across Things Unseen, depicting apparitions of loving memories, charitable deeds, negative impacts, and works of art. By this definition, can she argue that ghosts are certainly real, for what is an afterlife if not the traces a person leaves behind?
Please Eat Me When I Die gives this idea of life after death a particularly visceral form. The painting began with a news article about a woman whose body had been eaten by her two pugs after she died. As a fellow pug parent, Liu-Wong found the story resonant. Around the same time, her partner introduced her to Abby Webster’s song “Cat”, in which a man at a bar obnoxiously informs Webster that her beloved cat would eat her if she died. In the painting, a young woman’s ghost watches lovingly as her cats eat her corpse following an accidental fall. The empty, overturned bowl hints at the necessity of their actions. She and these cats loved each other; if her body, now useless to her, can sustain them, she would not begrudge them that. Her ghost is a visual manifestation of her love, while her body physically nourishes them until they can be found and rescued. Borrowing its title from Webster’s lyrics, ‘Please Eat Me When I Die’ is a grim, tender and hilarious meditation on what a person leaves behind for their loved ones after death.
In I Won’t Hurt You, a woman stalks towards an unassuming man who reads cluelessly in the foreground. The intensity of her gaze is echoed by the ominous figure hovering behind her, seemingly guiding or becoming her. Is this a literal vengeful spirit, or a visual embodiment of her desire to cause harm? The cosy setting, now overrun with ants, serves as an uncannily familiar backdrop to the domestic drama.
Is She Weird reflects on the ghosts that can consume us and haunt our every waking thought. In some ways, it serves as a symbolic self-portrait of the obsession that keeps Liu-Wong transfixed as an artist. The artist in the image is haunted by a singular vision and feels compelled to depict it. Preparatory sketches and studies hint at where his thoughts stray when this ghostly embodiment of his desires is not visiting him.
Visitors will encounter these tableaux and more in Things Unseen, as Liu-Wong explores ghosts through the eyes of a sceptic. For her, ghosts need not be proof of an afterlife to tell us something about being alive.
Kristen Liu-Wong is an American artist and illustrator known for her vibrant and electric imagery. Born and raised in San Francisco, she left home at 17 to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, majoring in Illustration. Since graduating in 2013, she has exhibited extensively in galleries across the US and abroad. Now based in Los Angeles, Liu-Wong often features strong women in her work, surrounded by environments that juxtapose femininity with the abject; think messy bedrooms, blood-stained weapons, and bathtubs filled with snakes. Her vivid, surreal works centralise femme characters as bold, brash heroines and tell strange stories through nightmarish imagery and irreverent humour.