2020-05-23
Acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 inches
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
My Virtual Online Gallery on Artsteps
Check out the link to my online gallery on Artsteps, featuring 98 artworks and 5 photographs!
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Senior Thesis at SVA (2020)
In my art, I present beauty in the form of female nudes, flowers, and animals. I believe that beauty can represent a form of truth that is internal and universal because of the shared understanding and perception that beauty can provide. I pay homage to the female nudes because I find them beautiful and exciting; I paint flowers because I find them beautiful; and I paint the male counterparts to the female nudes as animals because I do not find male body to be exciting, which is why I turn them into animals.
I believe that I am not objectifying women’s bodies but celebrating them, since power relations are reversible, and the objectification becomes a form of celebration with awe, wonder, and desire, depending on the person engaging in the gaze. I am a straight virgin male, although I might have a certain queer tendency of desiring to become a woman or a goddess who is beautiful according to my gaze. My art is both an expression of my frustrations of being a virgin as well as my sexual fantasy involving beautiful women or goddesses.
I argue that the beautiful women and goddesses in my art do not depict real women but are essentially images of goddesses and divine beings that exist in the subconscious realm of the cosmos. These beings are constructed via my subconscious understanding of beauty, or instinct, which follow the mathematical properties of beauty, such as the ideal proportions and ratios of color and form. The images are divine and eternal in the sense that they have always existed before the birth of the cosmos, within the probabilities and possibilities of the mathematical equations that dictate every behavior of every object and particle in the physical universe. I am not creating the images but simply giving physical bodies to the images, which already had existed before I was born and before the Big Bang, within the mathematical and physical laws of the universe.
The female figures in my art are archetypes shaped by my ideals, including the mathematical properties of beauty. According to the Oxford English Dictionary dictionary, the archetypes are “the original pattern or model from which copies are made; a prototype ...” and stereotypes are “a preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person...” The female figures in my art are archetypes, and not stereotypes, because they are conceived with originality and depth, whereas stereotypes follow shallow and flat images of characters.
Similarly to Nick Cave’s attempt to mask the subject in anonymous costumes, or Amy Sherald’s idealized depictions of African American beauty, I mask my subject in an idealized form that will allow the viewer to experience beauty but also unity to the subject with which he or she can associate with.
In terms of the technique and the paint application, I employ glazing, opaque dry brushing, and impasto with palette knife to create images that have a solid physicality. This is the irony of my work - that they are purely based in 2-dimensional images, but I want to imbue them with a tangible quality that acknowledges the physical properties of painting as a door, not a window. My former mentor, Angel Abreu, and former instructor, Farrell Brickhouse, told me that I should express the love of paint more than my obsession with the beauty of the female form.
Formally, I have adopted two separate, main styles of painting: expressionistically-stylized figuration and LEGO-style pointillist works. These two bodies of work are unified thematically by their focus on the female form and beauty, as well as visually by my unique touch and individual style, which people say they can recognize as mine. In particular, my application of color is harmonious in a very personal and specific manner, which is perhaps the most telling aspect of my style.
Typically when I paint, I begin with the female figure because she is the main character of the story or the scene. I usually start with the face because I want to become intimate with the subject that I am painting. Next, I move onto the neck and render the rest of the body, usually engaged in sexual activity with a male animal-demon figure.
In my expressionistically-stylized works, I reduce the form to its most essential bone structure and apply strokes as highlights, midtones, and shadows, often in rounded and painterly strokes in order to achieve smooth and organic, curvilinear forms. In some parts, I retouch the colors with a palette knife or brush and mix up the highlights and shadows in order to create a smooth transition of colors.
In my LEGO-style paintings, I use abstract colors to create harmony and cohesion of form, as well as abstract pointillist forms to avail abstraction and vibrancy in my colors. Although the LEGO-style painting appears different from my expressionistically-stylized paintings, they both share the most essential traits and information, such as where the highlights, midtones, and shadows are located on a figure.
Through the process of constantly observing and retouching the image, a form that is solid and tangible appears in the image, and colors are able to work together to create a readable image like a harmonious symphony, which expresses an emotion or abstract thought regarding the person. The emotions and abstract thoughts regarding the subject can appear or manifest as the mood or atmosphere of the colors, the presence and weight of the form, and the expression, whether facial or bodily, relating to both color and form. My attitude towards the subject is generally positive because I am attracted to the female subject and want to become the female within my fantasy.
In terms of color, I not only use conventional color schemes (such as complementary and analogous) to enhance the imagery, but also I use my instinct regarding color in an experimental manner, in which I keep improvising and reacting to what I put down and what I see, using my instinct for ideal colors. There is a feedback effect and a buildup of colors as what I see and what I put down generate a dialogue. I aim to give a sense of warmth in my color choices, as if to be energized under a warmth of sunlight.
The scale of my work is typically big in order to achieve a monumental image and a strong presence of the subject, as well as allowing enough space for my brush to maneuver the paint around the canvas. Space in terms of composition is often vertically upright and mostly occupied by the subject, in order to bombard the viewer with sexual energy and passion.
There are significant influences from pornographic content on the internet, whether they are porn videos or Japanese illustrations. Pornographic and sexually explicit works by artists such as Lisa Yuskavage and Cecily Brown have strongly influenced my work, although I myself am not very playful but rather serious in my exploration of human sexuality. Other sources of influences come from Camille Henrot and Judith Linhares, who also paint about female sexuality and a female-only paradise. Sexually explicit music by artists such as Delerium, Kaskade, and Utada Hikaru impact my work as well in both conscious and subconscious manner, although I listen to other kinds of music as well while painting.
From my earliest works, which went through a long phase of Modernism involving impasto and the materiality of the paint, and from my earlier works, which became much more illustrational and explicit, my latest works express both the love of paint and the illustrational and explicit imagery, depending on the style. Many people who dislike pornography will be unable to tolerate my new body of work because it’s too weird for their taste. Upon recommendation by Angel Abreu, I have at times sketched and drew out my ideas before I produce a painting. Drawing is less forgiving than painting, depending on the medium with which I draw, because it’s hard to erase darker colors or draw over with lighter colors.
Under the ideal circumstances, I would present my work in a gallery setting or at a gallery cafe where there is ample room in between the pieces so each work will be able to stand on its own and express its full merits as paintings.
I believe that I am not objectifying women’s bodies but celebrating them, since power relations are reversible, and the objectification becomes a form of celebration with awe, wonder, and desire, depending on the person engaging in the gaze. I am a straight virgin male, although I might have a certain queer tendency of desiring to become a woman or a goddess who is beautiful according to my gaze. My art is both an expression of my frustrations of being a virgin as well as my sexual fantasy involving beautiful women or goddesses.
I argue that the beautiful women and goddesses in my art do not depict real women but are essentially images of goddesses and divine beings that exist in the subconscious realm of the cosmos. These beings are constructed via my subconscious understanding of beauty, or instinct, which follow the mathematical properties of beauty, such as the ideal proportions and ratios of color and form. The images are divine and eternal in the sense that they have always existed before the birth of the cosmos, within the probabilities and possibilities of the mathematical equations that dictate every behavior of every object and particle in the physical universe. I am not creating the images but simply giving physical bodies to the images, which already had existed before I was born and before the Big Bang, within the mathematical and physical laws of the universe.
The female figures in my art are archetypes shaped by my ideals, including the mathematical properties of beauty. According to the Oxford English Dictionary dictionary, the archetypes are “the original pattern or model from which copies are made; a prototype ...” and stereotypes are “a preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person...” The female figures in my art are archetypes, and not stereotypes, because they are conceived with originality and depth, whereas stereotypes follow shallow and flat images of characters.
Similarly to Nick Cave’s attempt to mask the subject in anonymous costumes, or Amy Sherald’s idealized depictions of African American beauty, I mask my subject in an idealized form that will allow the viewer to experience beauty but also unity to the subject with which he or she can associate with.
In terms of the technique and the paint application, I employ glazing, opaque dry brushing, and impasto with palette knife to create images that have a solid physicality. This is the irony of my work - that they are purely based in 2-dimensional images, but I want to imbue them with a tangible quality that acknowledges the physical properties of painting as a door, not a window. My former mentor, Angel Abreu, and former instructor, Farrell Brickhouse, told me that I should express the love of paint more than my obsession with the beauty of the female form.
Formally, I have adopted two separate, main styles of painting: expressionistically-stylized figuration and LEGO-style pointillist works. These two bodies of work are unified thematically by their focus on the female form and beauty, as well as visually by my unique touch and individual style, which people say they can recognize as mine. In particular, my application of color is harmonious in a very personal and specific manner, which is perhaps the most telling aspect of my style.
Typically when I paint, I begin with the female figure because she is the main character of the story or the scene. I usually start with the face because I want to become intimate with the subject that I am painting. Next, I move onto the neck and render the rest of the body, usually engaged in sexual activity with a male animal-demon figure.
In my expressionistically-stylized works, I reduce the form to its most essential bone structure and apply strokes as highlights, midtones, and shadows, often in rounded and painterly strokes in order to achieve smooth and organic, curvilinear forms. In some parts, I retouch the colors with a palette knife or brush and mix up the highlights and shadows in order to create a smooth transition of colors.
In my LEGO-style paintings, I use abstract colors to create harmony and cohesion of form, as well as abstract pointillist forms to avail abstraction and vibrancy in my colors. Although the LEGO-style painting appears different from my expressionistically-stylized paintings, they both share the most essential traits and information, such as where the highlights, midtones, and shadows are located on a figure.
Through the process of constantly observing and retouching the image, a form that is solid and tangible appears in the image, and colors are able to work together to create a readable image like a harmonious symphony, which expresses an emotion or abstract thought regarding the person. The emotions and abstract thoughts regarding the subject can appear or manifest as the mood or atmosphere of the colors, the presence and weight of the form, and the expression, whether facial or bodily, relating to both color and form. My attitude towards the subject is generally positive because I am attracted to the female subject and want to become the female within my fantasy.
In terms of color, I not only use conventional color schemes (such as complementary and analogous) to enhance the imagery, but also I use my instinct regarding color in an experimental manner, in which I keep improvising and reacting to what I put down and what I see, using my instinct for ideal colors. There is a feedback effect and a buildup of colors as what I see and what I put down generate a dialogue. I aim to give a sense of warmth in my color choices, as if to be energized under a warmth of sunlight.
The scale of my work is typically big in order to achieve a monumental image and a strong presence of the subject, as well as allowing enough space for my brush to maneuver the paint around the canvas. Space in terms of composition is often vertically upright and mostly occupied by the subject, in order to bombard the viewer with sexual energy and passion.
There are significant influences from pornographic content on the internet, whether they are porn videos or Japanese illustrations. Pornographic and sexually explicit works by artists such as Lisa Yuskavage and Cecily Brown have strongly influenced my work, although I myself am not very playful but rather serious in my exploration of human sexuality. Other sources of influences come from Camille Henrot and Judith Linhares, who also paint about female sexuality and a female-only paradise. Sexually explicit music by artists such as Delerium, Kaskade, and Utada Hikaru impact my work as well in both conscious and subconscious manner, although I listen to other kinds of music as well while painting.
From my earliest works, which went through a long phase of Modernism involving impasto and the materiality of the paint, and from my earlier works, which became much more illustrational and explicit, my latest works express both the love of paint and the illustrational and explicit imagery, depending on the style. Many people who dislike pornography will be unable to tolerate my new body of work because it’s too weird for their taste. Upon recommendation by Angel Abreu, I have at times sketched and drew out my ideas before I produce a painting. Drawing is less forgiving than painting, depending on the medium with which I draw, because it’s hard to erase darker colors or draw over with lighter colors.
Under the ideal circumstances, I would present my work in a gallery setting or at a gallery cafe where there is ample room in between the pieces so each work will be able to stand on its own and express its full merits as paintings.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Friday, January 10, 2020
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Monday, December 16, 2019
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Accessibility and Authenticity of Print Design
Essay for Print Design Scholarship by The Chelsy Tomashoff Memorial Scholarship for Print Design Excellence (https://thomasgroupprinting.com/print-design-scholarship/)
Print Design, which includes Lithography, Silkscreen, and Woodblock, provides wider access to an audience than traditional painting or drawing by allowing for multiple copies of the same work. In the digital age, when images can be easily copied and pasted on the computer and spread over the internet, print design provides an art form that fights against this trend of devaluing access to art and the effort of the artist by limiting the number of physical copies to a number set by the artist. As long as a physical copy of the work exists, the digital copy of the work will fail to provide an authentic experience as much as the physical original.
Print design returns the power of production, distribution, and profit to the artist because it simultaneously allows the artist to access a wider audience yet limits the audience specifically to those who paid to own the product, rather than letting it be duplicated and lose its value ad infinitum over the internet. With the advent of digital art and digital photography, some people declared an end to the traditional mediums such as painting and printmaking. But we now all know that the actual physical work of art is much more valuable and authentic than a digital copy that exists as pixels on a computer display.
Print design also allows for happy accidents and variations within the printmaking process. A silkscreen can have different color combinations or have certain color separations missing. How the artist aligns the paper can have some of the color separations go in slightly different positions as well. This means that each print is unique, unlike a digital copy which is exactly the same.
What this all means is that print design affirms the nature of people as not machines but people prone to mistakes and discoveries. Digital art and print design may appear similar on the surface but are worlds apart. Print design provides a tactile, tangible, and real experience to the viewer, as well as giving the artist the power of distribution and sale while giving the audience the power of physical ownership and patronage of art. I choose print design over digital art because people are meant to experience discovery in the production and authenticity in the product.
Print Design, which includes Lithography, Silkscreen, and Woodblock, provides wider access to an audience than traditional painting or drawing by allowing for multiple copies of the same work. In the digital age, when images can be easily copied and pasted on the computer and spread over the internet, print design provides an art form that fights against this trend of devaluing access to art and the effort of the artist by limiting the number of physical copies to a number set by the artist. As long as a physical copy of the work exists, the digital copy of the work will fail to provide an authentic experience as much as the physical original.
Print design returns the power of production, distribution, and profit to the artist because it simultaneously allows the artist to access a wider audience yet limits the audience specifically to those who paid to own the product, rather than letting it be duplicated and lose its value ad infinitum over the internet. With the advent of digital art and digital photography, some people declared an end to the traditional mediums such as painting and printmaking. But we now all know that the actual physical work of art is much more valuable and authentic than a digital copy that exists as pixels on a computer display.
Print design also allows for happy accidents and variations within the printmaking process. A silkscreen can have different color combinations or have certain color separations missing. How the artist aligns the paper can have some of the color separations go in slightly different positions as well. This means that each print is unique, unlike a digital copy which is exactly the same.
What this all means is that print design affirms the nature of people as not machines but people prone to mistakes and discoveries. Digital art and print design may appear similar on the surface but are worlds apart. Print design provides a tactile, tangible, and real experience to the viewer, as well as giving the artist the power of distribution and sale while giving the audience the power of physical ownership and patronage of art. I choose print design over digital art because people are meant to experience discovery in the production and authenticity in the product.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Saturday, May 11, 2019
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