Having grown up in a traditional Chinese household in what used to be a diverse neighborhood in San Jose, California, it had always been a struggle to identify as either Chinese or American. I was speaking Cantonese at home, Mandarin formally, but English predominantly. Neither "Chinese" nor "American" were quite good enough, so I used both terms interchangeably based upon who I was talking to. The same identity problem resurfaced time and time again, which made me doubt the authenticity of my creations and ashamed to show my art for fear of misrepresenting myself. So for 30 years, my artwork remained a hidden "thing" until I found a way for it to embody an equal mix of both cultures.
The Asian-American artworks here are inspired by Chinese & Japanese brushwork presented with western mediums on canvas. Ink and Xuan/rice paper is quite literally fused onto pulled canvases, and sealed via acrylics and oils. In conjunction with a natural drying process, which produces this smooth and sleek effect, these paintings can take several days to come together. One small hiccup along the way and the whole painting is smeared, torn, broken, ruined. Ironically, this fragile process is exactly what makes the outcome resilient.
