A great interview with My Artist, Jessica Cheung!

   Yesterday I had a great talk with Jessica Cheung, She shared a lot about her view of art and the value about it. Also I have visited her art studio, the well-equipped environment had told me what a profession is, and investigated the life of artist. Thankyou Jessica, I had enjoyed the interview with you. Some of the current work are shown below.

1. Mr David McKee had described your work as landscapes of consumerism”. Is that your artistic style or you are something other from it?

A: I’m a native Hong Kong people, before I had my further art education in the USA, I had been working a while, and I realized that people in Hong Kong only strive for money, which left no space for different developments other than money. Consumerism, luxury goods became the mark of distinction for the rising middle class. That’s why in some of my paintings, I tried to give an intuitive response to the commercial and material world.

  

2. What makes you start with Gestural, bravura oil paintings but not other media of creation? 

A: An oil painting artist who had the most influence me without even knowing who Hans Hofmann was. After a short whole, I realized that I kept returning to look at the same works by the same artist. Hans Hofmann was not just a great artist, but also a brilliant teacher. By reading his books, totally opened up my mind and changed the way I look at art. I began to explore space through colors and understand spatial relationships. About the same time, I have known my mentor, Vita Petersen, who was Hans Hofmann's student. I would say I learnt Hans Hofmann from her.

3. What inspire you to use still-life genre as a catalyst?

A: Influenced by Hans Hofmann, he said, "three absolutely different factors: first, nature which works upon us by its laws; second, the artist who creates a spiritual contact with nature and his materials; third, the medium of expression through which the artist translates his inner world."  To create an art work, I have chosen work from direct observation so that the final work can be much more solid. My personal stuff and belongings are always brilliant for me to focus and to look into it. But I express its inner beauty rather than external narrative.

4. Do you hold any special concerns or expectations of your artwork?

A: I don’t expect to paint to famous, but I rather believe do what you like to, otherwise there would be too much pressure. The final appearance of my paintings always give me surprises, I feel myself like a creator who give them life. My paintings make me keep going and discover more.

5. Do you have any artwork particularly satisfied with?

A: Although I always love my current work, my graduation work should be my favorite one in terms of size. During my stay in New York I had spacious working studio, I satisfied not just with the size but also freely expression in technical.

6. Do you have any deliberate planning before each creation?

A: Before I paint, I normally don’t do any planning, but after I set up the objects, their positions will remain unchanged until my painting is finish. During painting, I enjoy to have a very close looking to my objects until everything becomes abstract. I catch that moment and put my visual experience onto a canvas. The unplanned images will make me stop to go for more descriptive details because the painting itself already takes on its own life, it is telling its own story.

7. Why did you us bright colors in most of your paintings?

A: I am a colorist, undoubtedly. I believe all influence by Hans Hofmann, I was so impressed to his art work, his "Push and Pull" theory. Its all about colors. I realized how colors interact and how this applies to making art. The colors making space: light colors opposed to dark colors; warm colors opposed to cool colors, and so on.

8. Could you share something about your upcoming artwork?

A: Besides the materialism social context, space are somehow amazing me the most, which also by means of colors. The upcoming work is all about microcosm space, while my eyes travel through those forms in between selected objects, an imagination image reflects to my mind. I will let my paintings telling their own stories. Life is random, just like me, I wasn’t expecting to be an artist before, but now I am, and so does my upcoming artwork, let it be, life is too much unknown, random artwork always create surprises. Just follow the nature!