Artist Kairong Liu’s commissioned artwork — a triptych painting, or a painting split into three sections — measures about 6 feet wide by 7 feet tall.

By Allison Kronberg/Murphy News Service

Track lighting has highlighted a bare wall for nearly a decade in a home along the Black River in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

But the lights will soon shine on a piece of art.

Local artist Kairong Liu recently finished the artwork — a triptych painting, or a painting split into three sections. The piece is scheduled to be moved into the home on Friday (April 24). It is the largest commissioned painting Liu has done, with each of the three canvases measuring about 6 feet wide by 7 feet tall.

It’s rare for an artist to be commissioned with such a large project, Liu said.

“It was a challenge,” Liu, who lives in Eagan, Minnesota., said, “and at first, I was very concerned if I would be able to handle it.”

The first painting in the set depicts a steamboat in La Crosse preparing to leave the bank of the Mississippi, with citizens gathered to send it off. The second painting shows a specific steamboat, the War Eagle, having already left and floating away. And the third painting in the set displays people climbing aboard another steamboat at shore.

The person who commissioned the paintings, who asked to remain unidentified, drew inspiration from early 1900s photos of steamboats, which he gathered from the La Crosse Historical County Historical Society.

“The most challenging part for me was that I had no idea what color the boats would be,” Liu said. “In the photos, everything was black and white.”

After the paintings were commissioned in October, Liu visited the La Crosse family’s home to see firsthand the scenes he would paint in present-day. He started working on the paintings in early February, he said.

Beverly Madden-Bishop, manager of Art Resources Gallery, where Liu works, said she knew Liu would be the right person for the job as soon as she heard what the family wanted.

“I just knew that he would be the one, and that he would do a great job and would really listen to what they wanted,” Madden-Bishop said. “He was the one and only painter I would recommend — it was a no-brainer.”

Liu, 54, has been painting in Minneapolis for decades. He has at least 3,000 works of art in his studio.

The commission request fit Liu’s style, because he most often paints landscapes or landmarks, and he typically paints with a traditional impressionist style with unexpected, bold colors.

The house in which the painting will be installed provides a perfect setting for one of Liu’s paintings, Patricia Undlin, senior interior designer at Pappas Design, said. Undlin’s team designed the interior of the La Crosse family’s home.

The prairie-style home follows a contemporary style, she said. It has a mostly neutral interior with washes of bright primary colors.

And boats are important to the family, Undlin said, because the father grew up on the river and now owns a maritime business.

It took Undlin about two years to find a painter that fit the family’s style.

“In the end, [the painting] turned out to be extraordinary,” she said. “When the owners saw the piece at the end last month, they said, ‘It exceeded our expectations.’”

Liu said he’s excited for his work to be chosen for a few reasons.

The paintings occupied quite a bit of space in his studio, he said, and he was afraid of something bad happening to them while they were in his hands.

“But, at the same time, it’s kind of sad to see a work you spent so much time on and put so much work into leave,” Liu said. “But in general, I’m very happy.”

Reporter Allison Kronberg is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.