Analog North

Past Work

I have decided to include a selection of some of my past art work complete with re-done artist statements. It’s interesting to go back and read about what my artwork was at the time. It is truly is the hardest thing for me to write about my artwork. I find it impossible to ignore that I am the maker and write purely as an observer. What usually happens is my rough drafts are so insane, narcissistic and hypocritical that I give up all together. This artwork now is like a time capsule, they act as markers of where I have been. When I look at some of the pieces I can remember what I was doing, feeling, and experiencing while I was as making it. The bulk of the work is from two shows, “Animal in China” and “I Heart Dream and Romance” I may decide to post more another time.

Animal in China

Living in a different culture and being ‘misunderstood’ and more than often ‘not understanding’ has impacted the way I see and respond to my environment. The work I create has taken on a surreal nature, existing in a world where things do not have to be understood to be valid. It reflects my interest in the ‘in between,’ the difference between understanding and confusion. Mythical creatures and images are the personifications of this unknown.

For me there is no hierarchy between Chinese art and that of the west and I enjoy drawing from both traditions to generate my work. I look at religious symbolism and Folk Art, using imagery as narrative to tell a tale about the world around me. Frequently my work may have humorous or curious abstractions or have erotic or carnal overtones. I believe in the inexplicable and enjoy the ambiguity of the collaged marks, and imagery that I put together. I am not interested in ‘perfect’.  Flaws are a positive conceit.

I Heart Dream and Romance

After having been living and working as a ceramic artist in China for years, I took on paper cuts as another medium to illustrate. Paper cut is a traditional form of folk art in China. Paper cut artists, using the unique fold-and-cut technique; illustrate their daily lives, folklore, and their religious beliefs. I use the same technique and intend to take paper cuts to a different dimension. My work is about modern life and cultural dynamics. What the works present is provocative visual reference of the everything-goes pop culture, which has made its way into a transforming society such as China, and fused with traditional aesthetics. Through my work, the age old craft 
transforms to an ultra-modern visual medium.
I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1978. I studied in Canada at the Alberta Collage of Art and Design and the Kootenay School Of Art. I received a BFA from the Alberta Collage of Art and Design in 2000

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