ART PORTFOLIO
Thirteen works that showcase who I am.
Artist Statement
Reading back into the diary I have kept since childhood, I note how my feelings and values shift and change, particularly as they address personal feelings and experiences as well as larger identities like femininity and cultural heritage. Likewise, my art attempts to translate individual emotion in some pieces and to address larger entities of societal legacies and customs in others.
I was born into a family of architects who has worked closely with cultural preservation in China; my grandpa worked on the repair of the Forbidden City, and my parents continue to engage in historic and religious projects in and out of Beijing. In this environment, I have become acutely aware and appreciative of my own cultural heritage, which repeatedly appears in my work. However, moving around the globe and receiving a mostly western education growing up, this Chinese heritage often enters into a dialogue with an international background. In some of my works, I express this conflict through food ("Chinese Food", Happy Chinese New Year from America, and maple syrup in Trinity: A Self-Portrait). On a national and particularly American level, sexual identity and issues have played a role given continuing conflicting opinions expressed and values asserted in reaction to events such as the Roe vs. Wade case (Dobbs v. Jackson: America’s "Annunciation"); while personally, I have visually reflected upon my own identity and emotions connected with life experiences (Look at My Ego Burning and The Embrace).
Individuality and commonality also occur in selections of media such as traditional western oil paint and found distinctive objects like chopsticks and noodles ("Chinese Food") and peace knots (Trinity: A Self-Portrait). With subject matter, materials and techniques, I want to also engage the audience on multiple sensory levels. In this regard, I often encourage the viewer to gently touch the protruding thumb tack pins (What it means to be a Woman) or to sniff the faint maple syrup smell (background of Trinity: A Self- Portrait).
With each creation I find a new jigsaw piece; through this artistic journey, I feel like I am slowly realizing in visual form the complete puzzle that unites and defines individual experience with the cultural background that is myself.
Trinity: A Self-Portrait
2021, oil, yarn, maple syrup on canvas, 24 x 18 x 1.5"
Born in China, I spent my early childhood in Canada and was schooled in a British system. I have intertwined the three cultural identities in this self-portrait. The red peace knot represents Chinese tradition, the blazer I wear represents the uniform I wore in a British school, and the maple syrup background invokes my memories of Canada. The extended peace knots break the conventional canvas space to add a tactile dimension and to engage viewers, while the maple syrup adds an olfactory dimension.
"Chinese Food"
2021, mixed media on paper, 24 x 18'
As a Chinese student studying abroad, it is often hard to find a genuine connection with home, especially through food. This collage contrasts the authentic Chinese food making up my figure with the Americanized-Chinese noodles I eat along with fragments of take-out menus in the background. The semi-relief of the takeout box, noodles, and chopsticks adds a third dimension to the otherwise flat surface.
Dobbs v. Jackson: America’s "Annunciation"
2022, oil paint on wood panel, 30 x 30 x 2''
This Renaissance-styled triptych was created in reaction to the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, conveying how American society has regressed to an inhumane attitude toward women. The central panel invokes the classic "Annunciation" theme, except here the weary mother is rejecting rather than anticipating her newborn, which she has delivered unwillingly under new laws. Her already large, needy family is at the bottom of the panel, while two Supreme Court judges that were involved with overturning Roe vs. Wade flank the center approving and guarding their new decision.
What it Means to be a Woman
2021, mixed media, 21 x 24 x 1''
This fabric-primed quadriptych depicts the bittersweet of womanhood. The eyes at the left top emphasize how women have to be constantly alert to the dangers around them, emphasized by the thumb-tacks that protrude from surrounding vines; the right top canvas combats the stereotype of women being “fragile, pretty flower vases” by glorifying the inner essences of "broken” women as grand rivers. At the bottom left is a depiction of the tenderness of motherhood as the baby nests sweetly in its mother’s hair which I braided from a wig; and at the bottom right, a mother is giving birth to a sunrise made out of colorful metallic strings, celebrating the woman’s capacity to debut new life into the world.
Food Dipped in Milk
2022, acrylic and woodcut on panel, 48 x 48 x 0.5''
This 12-panel piece expresses love for milk by depicting my “strange” habit of dipping different foods into this beverage before eating. The images’ outlines and textures are carved into wood, then traced over with white paint to emphasize the color quality of milk.
Still-Life of Contemporary Objects
2022, oil on canvas, 11 x 18''
Knowing that traditional still-life oil painting depicts objects from a former time, I wanted to create a still-life representing our modern world in 2022. I gathered items such as my laptop, my favorite sneaker, packet ramen, hand sanitizer, AirPods, scotch tape, lint roller, etc., uniting them with a strip of tape that angles over and connects the arrangement space. An influence for this work was Paul Cézanne’s style and technique, especially his emphatic brushstrokes causing objects to seem voluminous and vibrant.
Studio Still-Life
2022, pastel on paper, 18 x 24''
This still-life presents objects with a variety of textures, ranging from the soft fur of a stuffed animal to a hard plastic bin and a clear glass bottle. Resting on a relatively straight horizon line, the forms interact closely with each other, linked with loose yarn connecting items near the tin can and the toy inside the bin.
The Hutong Montage
2022, charcoal on paper, 19.5 x 25.5''
The Hutongs, the landmark alleyways of Beijing, are what I remember when I think of home; it was a place where I once lived, played and was schooled. This charcoal piece braids together four interior and exterior scenes of the Hutong living quarters, representing the montage of it in my memories.
Happy Chinese New Year from America
2022, oil on panel, air dry clay, mixed media, 30 x 24 x 40''
This installation captures the solitary moments of a Chinese New Year abroad in America without family. On the panel, I am in my scantily decorated, dorm room eating ghostly white Chinese takeout food as my New Year's Eve dinner in the daylight (due to time differences). Across the table, my family on Zoom celebrates with me on a miniature computer screen.
The Embrace
2022, air dry clay, reflective mosaic tiles, 12 x 12 x 6''
This sculpture depicts the metacognitive process of a new version of me replacing the last, as I continue to absorb new experiences and knowledge in order to grow. The tiles emphasize the self-reflective nature intended by this piece, and the gentle farewell embrace depicts the new me thanking the ways the previous me enriched the present. The hole in the middle shows how the new me is not completely formed yet and will remain there shrinking as I constantly undergo transformation.
Look at My Ego Burning
2022, installation with fabric, chair, acrylic on paper, dimensions variable.
The red eye is a vivid symbol of a hurt ego for me, and this installation magnifies this painful feeling through the massive fabric that consists of hundreds of different red eyes that drape over the chair plus large eyes "floating" in the air. The classroom setting emphasizes a room where egos are often hurt, where “embarrassing” mistakes and frustrations occur due to incomprehension. This interactive installation invites the audience to experience the work close up while also feeling immersed in the emotion as dozens of red eyes stare intensely at them.
Me, Mom, Dad
2021, oil on canvas, mirror paper, 18 x 24 x 12''
This arrangement of paintings expresses my parents’ remote yet close connection with me while I am studying abroad. The fact that the portraits are done on different panels emphasizes our physical separation. The setting of me in front of a dressing table symbolizes my adolescence, and the mirror suggests that even from places I cannot see, my parents watch me carefully behind my back as I grow into an adult from a distance.
Home, Home
2022, oil on canvas, translucent color PVC sheets, 16 x 90 x 1''
This 8-canvas long piece portrays a continuous line of scenes from my home in Beijing at right to my second home Deerfield Academy at left, where I board now. My memories of Beijing are mostly homely interiors where I spend time with my family, while Deerfield’s unique natural surroundings impress me the most. The modern, translucent circles are intended to connect the scenes together as "footprints" of my presence throughout the two homes.