Or Far or Near
"Gaze of Desire"
Year: 2019 Medium: Digital Painting: Procreate Size: 2224 * 1668 px
This piece is included in the series of "Or far or near", and is inspired by Henri Matisse's color expression and the "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth. I created the symbol as a planet that seems both like the moon and the sun, but ultimately a mysterious element to which the audience can freely assign meaning. The symbol is in an unrealistic proportion and is larger compared to the human’s size. It symbolizes a figurative utopian desire and beauty that is near us but is never a mundane object that we can obtain and announce ownership of. The girl within the image is also a self-portrait of myself craving for the ideology of beauty and desire, with a romanticized view of the world with hope and passion as expressed by the colors to resonate with audiences' emotions.
"You"
Year: 2019 Medium: Digital Painting: Procreate Size: 1668 * 2224px
In this piece, I incorporated Chinese characters as symbols to express my identities. The context of the characters is abstract and are ideas that pop up to my mind freely during the creation process when I ran out of solid theme ideas. Once again, I drew imperfect circles to hint that imperfections make us unique, and the circles can be represented as people. I placed emphasis on colors to further convey the theme of an individual's uniqueness and to encourage others to be original without fitting into society.
"Me"
Year: 2019 Medium: Digital Painting: Procreate Size: 2224 * 1668 px
The Chinese character that I embedded in this painting means "Me". The red circle is a character from the previous piece of "You", and is blocked by obstacles as yellow circles that hinder individual to be unique and find their real identity and personal journey in the society. The circles are traveling on highways constructed in ordinary and mundane lives. One of the overpasses showed the word "Me" in Chinese repetitively that attract others to pursue their genuine self-identities.
"Croissant's Enthusiasm"
Year: 2019 Medium: Crayon & Color Pencils Size: 29.7 x 42.0 cm (A3)
This piece is inspired by fauvism's focus on color expressions, and Henri Matisse's use of balance and color patterns in his artwork. The feeling that I intend to express in this piece is my enthusiasm for eating a croissant. I created balanced patterns and color schemes to deliver the feeling of comfort, passion, and delight to the audience.
"Pearls"
Year: 2019 Medium: Digital Painting: Procreate Size: 8.5''*11''
I featured XiaChun, a Chinese actress in this painting. She has inspired me with her idea that beauty comes from self-acceptance, and it is the flow of natural expression. I found her messages influential to my understanding of figurative drawing and the perception of beauty and appearance. Impacted by her ideologies, I expressed her vibe of freedom and the defiance of beauty standards in society with confident and impressionistic brush strokes toward all directions freely.
"What Do You Think of Beauty? "
Year: 2019 Medium: Digital Painting: Procreate Size: 11'' * 8.5''
"What Do You Think of Beauty" is a continued piece followed by "Pearl," featuring the same person looking at the audience directly. I explored the possible relationships between nature elements and humans as a means to illustrate personality. This piece continued with the message inspired by the actress in the figure that her appearances and thoughts provoke questions in the audience's mind after the interview of self-acceptance and unhealthy beauty standards in China.
"She"
Year: 2019 Medium: Acrylic Size: 36.4'' * 36.4'' inches
In this piece, my goal is to communicate my passions and emotions to the audience via the colors expressively. I did not use paintbrushes to paint this piece but my hands, in order to capture and record the movement of my physical body and flow of my emotions. The pronoun of "She" refers to myself, as well as my internal feelings that I wish to communicate with the audience. The abstract illustrations provide spaces for the audience to generate personal responses. "She" is also part of the series "Or far or near". Inspired by expressionism and fauvism, I intend to build an innate emotional relationship with the audience
"Or Far Or Near"
Year: 2019 Medium: Digital Painting: Procreate Size: 3000 * 2250 px
This is a collection of the series "Or Far Or Near."
Process, inspiration, and critical investigation
