Gate of Wealth IV

Gate of Wealth IV (2014) is part of Liao's long-running 'Gate' series, the central motif of his mature work. The series derives from the painted and carved gateways of Taiwanese folk temples, especially the paired door panels guarded by Door Gods and flanked by symbols of prosperity. In this 2014 canvas, acrylic replaces the printmaker's inks Liao used in the 1970s and 1980s versions, but the structural logic is unchanged: a strict bilateral symmetry, a central vertical axis, and stacked registers of votive objects — coins, ingots, lantern shapes, fruit offerings — laid across the surface. The applied gold leaf carries the literal association with wealth and the temple-craft origins of the imagery; it also creates the reflective, jewel-like surface that distinguishes the 'Gate of Wealth' canvases from his earlier paper-based prints. By 2014 Liao was in his late seventies and producing painted versions of motifs he had developed across four decades of printmaking, treating the canvases as a continuation of, rather than a departure from, his print practice.