Artist Statement
unit 2
My art consists of a collection of visual works that depict the duality of incompatible phenomena. I focus on the ambivalence of the two contrasting urges that I have. One is the urge to erase my traumatic memory, and the other is the desire to preserve/ resurrect it because I simply couldn’t let go of the fact that trauma attributes to my identity.
My recent practice captures contradicting tendencies that are witnessed in relationships. By using symbiotic creatures that combine human body parts and plantations, these personified plants functions as anonymous beings that play out the role of the hypothetic situations. Through drawing, painting, printmaking, and digital fabrications, I attempt to create detailed portrayals that appear realistic yet synthetic at the same time.
I tend to combine several practices that are derived from different cultures and periods to obscure the production period of my works. This lets the viewers detach my identity as an artist from the artwork itself, mitigating the personal experiences and biases from my art.
The overarching theme of my artwork is presented as a collection of narrative-based films or audio and visual experiments that symbolizes the contradicting urges to preserve and purge my trauma. The collection shows this ambivalence through juxtaposing artworks that show different power dynamics, futile attempts to preserve time, and the formation of synthesis of thesis and antithesis.
Unit 3 Exhibition Proposal
My visual reference for the July exhibit is “ The Cabinet of Curiosities”. The tradition of people gathering valuables and presenting them as a curated collection in a confined space is the main motif that I borrowed from the cabinet of curiosities. The collection of artworks that I have decided to present is introduced in the video, which allows the viewer to trace back the hidden clues that I have embedded in the exhibition.
The video projection plays a key role to give a detailed narrative that interconnects the dispersed artworks together under a single theme. My expectation of the final curation for the exhibit is to give the viewers a sense of viewing a private collection, or a study, that showcases collected items from the museum. To achieve this I would need a wall that isolates my space from other exhibits and a few devices that can attribute to the viewers’ experience. This would involve using a paper drawer and a plinth that reminds people of an aesthetic of a historical archive.
Finally, the overarching theme of this exhibit is the visual experiments that symbolize the contradicting urges to preserve and purge my trauma. The collection shows this ambivalence through juxtaposing artworks that show different power dynamics, futile attempts to preserve time, and the formation of synthesis of thesis and antithesis.
