Liu Shiming Foundation to pair sculptor’s abstract works with grant recipients

The Liu Shiming Art Foundation will open an exhibition in June, pairing lesser-seen abstract works by the late Chinese sculptor with works by artists who have received grants from the foundation.

The show, titled “Bio-morph,” will run June 12 through August 28 at the foundation’s space at 15 E. 40th St. in Manhattan. The exhibition is curated by Ashley Wu, the foundation’s assistant curator.

The foundation’s news release names five artists for the exhibition: Jing Huang, Manami Ishimura, Lulú Osnaya, Sangwoo Yoo and Sergei Zinchuk. Ishimura and Yoo were among the foundation’s 2025 artist grant recipients, while Huang, Osnaya and Zinchuk received grants in 2024.

The foundation’s 2025 grants went to Ishimura and Yoo, as well as Rita Mawuena Benissan, Shirin Towfiq and Blas Isasi, Urgent Matter previously reported. Each artist received $5,000 to support new work.

The foundation said the exhibition takes its title from biomorphic forms, or forms drawn from living organisms and natural processes.

It will pair the work of the grant recipients with Liu’s less frequently shown abstract sculptures, which depart from the public monuments, pastoral figures and street scenes for which he is better known.

The foundation’s artist grant program has awarded 20 grants of $5,000 since 2023 to visual artists in the first decade of their careers. The program stems from Liu’s support for younger artists during his career as a sculptor and professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, the foundation said.

A public program connected to the exhibition titled “Surviving the Art World” will be held on June 13. Wu will lead the session with Ishimura and Zinchuk, who are expected to discuss proposals, artist statements, funding, residencies and teaching careers.

The Liu Shiming Art Foundation was established in 2021 and is based in New York. It supports contemporary art while preserving and presenting the work of Liu, who lived from 1926 to 2010.

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