PEKING OPERA SERIES, 2015
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Artist Statement
My painting is inspired by the traditional Vietnamese-Chinese peking opera [“hat boi”]. “Hat boi” signifies my childhood memories where it was a beloved art form of the older generation. I’m interested in the music, gesture, the variation of facial make-up, the costume and the graceful movement of the performance artists. Through my work, I aspire to create an archive of my native culture, aesthetics and values. The painting surface became an imaginary place where I can explore and define myself. That imaginary place is also where the cultures come together interweave, merge, and sometime clash. The viewer might see my painting as a directly beautiful object as a result of representation what I have been trained in art schools and practiced as an traditional artist. But I hope someone else will see what I have tried to transmit into the painting and begin to search for a connection.
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