To celebrate the start of 2025, the Merced Multicultural Arts Center (MAC) is excited to host a solo exhibition of artist Li Ching Accurso, which displays a huge array of surreal and vibrant work that spans across three decades of artistic exploration.
This exhibit, titled “Li Ching World 1989 – 2024,” features 60 oil paintings and numerous watercolors — an artistic output from age 27 to 62.
“I love seeing the perspective of Li Ching through her 35 years of artistic expression,” says MAC Director Colton Dennis. “Her pieces range from over 7 feet to only a few inches, and there is such amazing ‘life’ depicted in every one.”
Li Ching Accurso was born in Taiwan in 1962. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was 14 years old. She attended UC Berkeley for both a BA in Fine Art and an MFA in Painting. She was awarded the prestigious Eisner Price in Painting at Berkeley when she received her Master’s degree and soon after was a Fulbright Scholar, 1991-1992.
She has been an Art Professor at Columbia College in Sonora, since 1995. The subject of water has been a consistent theme in Li’s work for more than 30 years. Water, reflections, moonlight, sunset, sky, ocean, moods of the weather, tropical landscapes and flowers are her favorite subjects.
The new exhibit will be on display in the MAC’s Main Gallery as well as the second floor through March 9. “These 60 some paintings demonstrate how my work has evolved in technique and style,” says Li Ching Accurso. “I experience the world with the eyes of a painter. When I travel and take pictures of beautiful scenery, I make sure I have an interesting composition, lighting, contrasts, and colors.
“When I see beautiful sunsets, I imagine how I would paint them. At night seeing the full moon in the dark sky, I imagine how I could capture this awesome moment in oil paint. When I dance, I think about the space I am creating with my body. How can I make my painting with this kind of movement like my arms and legs are making in space? When I sing, play piano, or listen to music, if it is beautiful, I want to find a way to paint what I have heard.
“Oil painting is a way for me to express my interior world, mostly from my imagination. I am interested in conveying the beauty of the landscape through atmospheric lighting and extravagant arrays of flowers. On the other hand, the small watercolors are plein-air and still-lifes based on observation.”
The MAC galleries are open: Wednesday – Friday from 2 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Notably, there will be an artist reception held on Friday, Jan. 31, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. An artist talk is set for 6:30 p.m.