“Hung Liu: Happy and Gay” Opening Reception
September 18, 2025
The Arthur Ross Gallery opened its doors on Friday, September 5, 2025, for the highly anticipated opening celebration of the exhibition Hung Liu: Happy and Gay. The evening drew more than 400 guests, making it one of the gallery’s most well-attended receptions in recent years.
Festivities began with a special tour at 4:30 pm with Dr. Dorothy Moss, Director of the Hung Liu Estate and the exhibition’s curator, offering the Friends of the Arthur Ross Gallery an in-depth look at Liu’s work. Dr. Moss also discussed the process behind curating the exhibition in collaboration with graduate students from Georgetown University. At 5 pm, the public reception began, filling the gallery with students, faculty, community members, and art enthusiasts. Among the notable attendees were Ben Behrends, chair of the Ross Gallery Alumni Advisory Board; Dr. Peter Decherney, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Humanities; Dr. André Dombrowski, Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of 19th Century European Art, Department of the History of Art and chair of the Ross Gallery Faculty Board; Jeff Kelley, art critic and Hung Liu’s widower who coined the term “weeping realism”; Dr. Jonathan Katz, Associate Professor of Practice, History of Art and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; Betsy Scott Kleeblatt, Ross Gallery Alumni Board Member; Aaron Levy, Senior lecturer, Departments of English and the History of Art and Ross Gallery Faculty Board Member; Ken Lum, Marilyn Jordan Taylor Presidential Professor at the Weitzman School of Design and Ross Gallery Faculty Board member; Walter Maciel of Walter Maciel Gallery; and the artist Sheldon Scott.
The evening featured a spirited performance by Penn Yo, the University of Pennsylvania’s Chinese and English language a cappella group, whose unique arrangements of popular songs filled the space. Formal remarks followed, delivered by Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, the Inaugural Faculty Director for the Ross Gallery and the James and Nan Farquhar Professor in the Department of the History of Art; Dr. Josephine Park, Associate Dean for Arts and Letters;Dr. Dorothy Moss; and Jeff Kelley, each of whom reflected on the artist’s life, her enduring legacy, and the significance of her work within the broader canon of contemporary art, closed out the formal program.
Guests also enjoyed light fare catered by Dim Sum Garden, and picked up temporary tattoos of the exhibition’s logo, a winged rat that represents Hung Liu (who was born in the year of the rat) with her fiery spirit and relentless optimism. The lively atmosphere of the evening underscored both the cultural resonance of Liu’s art and the gallery’s commitment to presenting exhibitions that engage multiple communities in timely conversations about art, life, and culture.
Hung Liu: Happy and Gay will remain on view at the Arthur Ross Gallery through October 26, and the upcoming programs for the exhibition are not to be missed, including a conversation between Ken Lum and the poet, art critic, and curator John Yau on October 2nd titled: ”A Couple of Old Chinese Guys Talking About Art.”
A visitor examines the xiaorenshu at the opening reception
Guests in the Fisher Fine Arts Lobby for the opening reception
Guests putting on the temporary tattoos of the Hung Liu flying rat symbol
Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Sheldon Scott, guest, and Jaynelle Hazard
History of Art students Nina Huang, Elliott Loft, Sarabelle Vilfort, Paige Sellars, Ivan Milekovic, Sawyer Taylor-Arnold, Ava Cappitelli at the opening reception
Penn Yo performs at the opening reception
Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw welcomes guests to the opening reception
Dr. Josephine Parks gives opening remarks
Jeff Kelly speaks at the VIP walkthrough