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The concept at core of my practice is ‘everything is not always as it first seems’.

 

The traditional art of Chinese painting forms the basis of my practice. I employ the styles and techniques of Chinese painting, but I use modern subject matter and elements of contemporary life in order to create a false impression. I enjoy using my work to trick the eyes. In my choice of subject, I aim to embody the tension between the traditional and non-traditional. I think by combining and contrasting the two I can create interesting conversations. My work focuses on societal issues, which have had a strong impact on both my work and my life. Nobody can escape the impact of their social environment. I aim to express delicate ambiguities, to play with the relationship between truth and falsity in an aesthetic way. I use beautiful things to express negative qualities, softening the impact of negative emotions. In my work, the external manifestation of beauty is more important than beauty itself; I employ beauty as metaphor. Everything in my paintings is in the ‘zone of indeterminacy’, which comprises ambiguity, vagueness, fuzziness and generality. I don’t want to use clear views to define a thing. There are two sides to every coin, there is no absolute right and wrong, it all depends on your point of view. I want to use my work to highlight these in-between spaces or grey areas.

 

When my paintings are viewed up close, what seems familiar at first sight is revealed to be something quite different. Delicate white peonies mask intrusive surveillance cameras and misty landscapes morph into genderless mountains of human flesh – these concealments serve to convey the concept that lies at the core of my practice “everything is not always as it first seems”.

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