Title: I’m Not Listening This work screen printed within 8 layers deconstructs the idea of iconography within western Media. When thinking about screen printed art, western icons are often brought to mind, images of Andy worhol’s Marilyn Monroe portraits being one of the most famous examples. At its core screen printing is about reproducing, marketing and displaying a single image. As an Asian American artist I am often looking at these iconic images of western artists, despite the eventual futility of what we view as “iconic”, and noticing the large gap of westernized asian icons. I decided to take it upon myself to create this portrayal of an Asian American “idol”, and in an act of forced arrogance, I used my own image. I incorporated layers of strictly western imagery, forming my composition in the same format as the archetypal drama faces, and printed it in a shape similar to the cover of a record. I printed shiny Hollywood teeth and lips, and crowns symbolizing the pedestal that imagery is often placed upon. I finally printed clown makeup onto one of the faces, displaying that despite the efforts to place an Eastern face into this Western makeup, it is still obvious in its irony. When this work was completed I decided to further push this idea of forced idolized imagery, and screen printed the image onto multiple t-shirts and asked people to parade around the image.
Title: Lady Bits I often delve into the issues that femininity presents. This lithograph shows a representation of an “objectified” female. A woman’s body consists of objects, all symbolizing the degradation of the female body. An Egg symbolizes unequal value of fertility, a clam represents the degrading language associated with female genitalia, jewelry displays women’s overwhelming beauty expectations, and other items, such as a sewing needle, show the domesticated prospects many women find themselves trapped by; This is to name just a few. All of these objects, including the woman’s face is represented through a pencil sketch, however the only image that is fully representational is the woman’s underwear. This pair of panties being the only photographed image within the entire composition, displays the way many men objectify women, only seeing them clearly for what they can offer sexually.
Title : Am I A Fish? This wood block carving displays a devolving train of thought. The title of the piece “ Am I a Fish” is mocking the associations that many people are told after undergoing very minor body modifications - such as piercing. Many people I know have lamented being compared to a fish or a cow after piercing their nose, lips or ears. I find his comparison to be very ridiculous and I wanted to tease the people who believe and perpetuate this line of reasoning. The piece is arranged under a series of text, exhibit A-F, all meant to read as a conspiracy theory proving that the statement “ Am I a FIsh?” is in fact true. The “evidence” places a fish hook next to a pair of earrings and a fish eye next to a human eye. While there seems to be some similarity between the imagery, it is still obvious that the statement is all together ridiculous.
Unsent - Unsaid This is a copper plate etching, meant to portray words that go unspoken. The top image is a large blank postcard, no words are written, and it is unaddressed. The button half contains 2 much smaller images, both with higher levels of detail. The image on the left has a ship, sailing away from the image on the right, with a picture of a conch shell. This imagery is a representation of the common myth, that you can hear the ocean through a seashell. However If you bring a seashell up to your ear, you don't hear the ocean, you hear your own blood pumping through your ear. You cannot communicate with someone if all you do is listen to yourself. The two post stamps are placed together and meant to appear as if in conversation, while simultaneously facing opposite ways. The ship is sailing the opposite way - it isn't communicating, and the shell cannot hear the ocean - it isn't listening. Both of the stamps are on the bottom of the page and not placed onto the postcard, and the letter, thus the conversation, is never received.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 A series of posters placed in the music department. The series of posters is a puzzle, and the ears on the sides of them are meant to invite curiosity. The poster’s placements are meant to invite the proper audience, most likely music students, students who spend their whole lives trying to get people to listen. Once the puzzle is solved, it spells out a simple statement “ IM NOT LISTENING”. This line is one I explore often in my work, the idea of giving your thoughts to someone else just for them to be ignored. The attempt of this work was to be somewhat humorous, with its ridiculous imagery and rude statement, but to also capture the idea of disappointment. The idea of investing time into something (someone) and your efforts to be rewarded with cruelty.
Personality Forms: This is an ongoing project I have been pursuing. It starts with my hand recreation of various forms. These forms can be a doctor’s sign up sheet, a NDA form or even a criminal record.I redraw these forms in ink, switching the formal questions with more personalized ones. I then distributed these forms to people who are significant in my life, encouraging them to display their sense of humor or personality in their responses. The lighthearted excited responses on the paper, combined with the serious format of the forms creates an interesting contrast. The intention of these forms are to visually understand the personalities of the people I am close to, and create a formal visual representation of my social life. Over time, as I continue this project I will lose touch with people, and these forms will serve as a timeline of my life through the people I have known or loved.
Confession Tree A public installation on campus. A tree with the simple instructions - to write and tie an anonymous confession onto the tree. This was a joint project along with fellow student El Berger. We were inspired by wishing trees, and our intention with this tree was to create a safe place for students to get their thoughts, negative or positive, off of their chests. We ended up with over 100 anonymous confessions, and got to observe people interacting with other people's responses.
Based on the "Portrait of Dorian Grey" I painted this piece attempting to point out our societies worst form of corruption.
When areas of this ink drawing are lifted, a grotesque colored version of the face is revealed, covered in littered packaging found from Amazon boxes, across campus. Similar to the novel by Oscar Wilde, the portrait goes through steady decay as each tab is lifted, demonstrating how our world will continue to become more and more affected by this corruption.
Based on the "Portrait of Dorian Grey" I painted this piece attempting to point out our societies worst form of corruption.