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!
