Lucy Liu Says She Doesn’t Expect Her Art to Be Valued Until After Her Death

Lucy Liu is opening up about her art.

Liu spoke at the James Baldwin Centennial edition of MacDowell Presents, an event that connects iconic artists for discussions on creativity and art's impact. The Dec. 2 roundtable discussion also featured fellow creators Bill T. Jones — a choreographer, director, author and dancer — and award-winning author Marlon James.

Best known for her roles in hit movies like Charlie's Angels, Kung Fu Panda and Set It Up, Liu, 56, has paved her way to success as an actress. But she also has a long history as a painter, dating back to her childhood in Queens, N.Y.

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The thing about art, Liu said at the event, is that one way or another, someone will be unhappy with it.

"I think that, you know, the work that you do when you share it, whatever medium, it's not for everybody," Liu said.

Her art has served as a means for Liu to fully express herself and find a sense of belonging, she told Artsy in 2019. While she dabbled in sculpture, silkscreen and textile work at one point, she is primarily a painter.

But Liu's existing identity as an actress seems to get in the way of her art speaking for itself, she said.

"My work will probably not be received well, until probably postmortem," Liu said of her visual work. "Because they want to see me in this particular category and in that category only. And so it's a little bit of a struggle."

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The habit of labeling a person as just one thing — "like saying you can't be a musician and a dancer, or you can't be a writer and a dancer" — is "too prescriptive," she said.

Liu showed her art in the National Museum of Singapore in January 2019 — the first time she's presented her work in a public exhibition. She shared the show with Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao, who creates installations.

That show was "probably the most significant moment as an artist that I've had," Liu told Artsy in 2019.

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“What I really loved was that there was no exchange, it wasn’t about selling, it was about sharing," Liu told Artsy. "That felt so good when people showed up and were actually looking at the work, closely and curiously."

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She continued, “It made me feel very connected … It was a way of understanding you are not really detached and you are part of something.”

Her love for art originated in school, she told PEOPLE in 2018. Her parents didn't really encourage art at home and she was already so math and science-oriented at school, so art classes opened an important creative avenue for her.

“When I started to get involved and do art on my own and at school in those programs, I was able to understand that I really wanted to have a creative life," she told PEOPLE.

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