​Installation: Compact Colonies
2017

Compact Colonies is an interactive installation constructed entirely out of metal material uniquely treated, dyed, and painted multiple times before it is slowly hand shaped into its immersive form. The lightweight industrial material used to create the work alludes to our urban environment and sense of constructed reality, yet its delicate form suggests a certain fragility. The specific nature of the installation's material invites light to enter, and radiate from its entirety - heightening the luminescent shades of blue, purple, and yellow and evoking the swirls and colors reminiscent of tropical waters and its corals. With the threat of climate change, oceanic acidification, and never ceasing human activity affecting life at all levels, the installation invites a deeper contemplation of the ecosystems that drives our existence and relationships. 


This installation is 7 ft tall and 10 ft wide. Detail shots and sneak preview of the work (above and below).

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Alternative Dimension
Art Installation
February 25 - March 25, 2016

This 8 ft tall immersive installation was presented at Project: ARTspace at 156 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan from February 25 - March 25, 2016.

Sehnsucht / 心驰神往

Sehnsucht is a German word with no English equivalent. It means the “longing for something.” It is difficult to translate adequately. C.S.Lewis defined it as the “inconsolable longing” in the human heart for “we know not what.” 心驰神往 is a Chinese idiom that describes longing. The title of this work is in German and Chinese to evoke emotions that cannot be completely translated or understood fully.

Identity can be often linked to a memory of physical geography, or a sense of one’s environment. When  removed from one’s place of origin, a sense of dislocation and rootlessness can form. It also marks the formation of new psychic spaces for myth creation and for new beginnings. Art becomes the platform that functions as the symbolic stage for our lives, a temporal shelter for comfort, and a space for urban myth-making. 

The most elemental building blocks of life are triangular. Inspired by the geometrical properties and symbolism of this form, this sculptural installation is created using metal, cardboard, styrofoam, and other industrial materials to construct a hybrid triangular structure – one that recalls a shelter akin to a safe space, the sensibilities of the displaced, the physical awareness of space and time, the sense of loss and longing, and the subsequent myth-making for a new beginning. People can step into and interact with the work, and also interact with each other.

Recently, the personal stories of the Syrian crisis and refugees seared into my imagination. This installation serves as a tribute to displaced Syrians, friends who crossed oceans to make New York City their new home, and the undocumented who toil silently in this vast land – this work is dedicated to all those who have ever experienced the longing for what they left behind and dream of, and for finding the courage to create new myths, new identities, and new beginnings.  

REALITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
2014 - 2015

Painting dimensions: (H)  51 inches (W) 39 inches

Detail below.

This work is a visual journey of artistic and personal discovery. Blocks of industrial Styrofoam were discarded near a construction site in New York. I collected and brought them back, carving out the Styrofoam, and merging it into the canvas with multiple layers of acrylic paint built up upon the surface. It was created and completed over the span of one year. To perceive, imagine and reflect upon one’s existence in relation to the world, is an essential part of my artistic vision.

This work explores the tensions inherent in my consciousness of one’s interactions with the urban environment and a sense of fragmentation that is encountered as a result of the restless crowds, anxious streets, and industrial activity filtering into my perceptions over time. As a result, I have the impulse to conjure up and carve out my own ideas of space. In a modern city environment that is often constructing its own reality through towering skyscrapers, this work also reflects upon how the rapid changes within our urban environment can affect us in daily life.  An exploration of fragmentation, duality, uncertainty and ambiguity as part of the urban experience.

I get inspiration from unconventional materials included discarded materials from construction sites or scrap yards such as foam, metal and wood and at times, absorb these materials into my art work. What has been discarded, has lived history and the material’s rebirth as art is an act of transformation and is brought into a new context.

Through abstraction, this art work explores the borders between painting and sculpture and also examines the intersections between materiality, space, and image. By adding a sculptural element to my work, I aim to push the boundaries of painting to see where it can go, adding a dimension of depth to heighten the viewer’s experience of perception and create a form of dialogue – ultimately to understand and respond to the world in a new way.


 








​More works in this series to come!



The Journey: An exploration into time and space.
Mixed Media experimental works incorporating aluminium, tree branches, oil & acrylic.
2009 - 2010