Anne Ke

My personal work is very narrative based and driven by pain and longing. I tend to work more technically and in figuration with paints and inks, and equally in traditional proxies such as digital illustration. To give you a little background on myself, I am a first generation Asian American raised Roman Catholic. My childhood was strict in both senses and confusing. As a result, I became sexually repressed and developed depression, which were themes discussed in my work. Works on pain may also include a hard look at narcissism, violence, sexual violence, and the absurdities of the universe. Connected to pain is also my obsession with longing, especially for that which never comes. Works commenting on longing involve erotic fantasies, the gaze, myth-making, self-actualization. Longing deals with pitting my passions up against the reality of this world and the reality of who I am as a woman, as an Asian, as an American, as an artist, as an independent-thinking individual.

Most of my inspiration comes from history, art history, arthouse films, anime, animation, video games, Japanese culture, literature, philosophy, and music that bites back. I am a firm believer in foundation or scientific art making and wish to explore illustration, video games, CGI, other modes of animation as well. There is a strong link between the past and the present. In the past, you made art for the King or the Church. Today, you make art for Netflix and Disney. Though I make art for myself, I also wish to acquire more technical skill in order to give myself the option of working for the entertainment sector. Essentially, my goal is to do both, because choosing one over the other is not an option.