Experimental with Art

People always ask me what I do for my art - what is my specialty and what's media or material I'm using. Most of time I'll answer: "I'm still at the time experimental with different media and working with everything possible."

"Idea-based" artist.
There are two major ways of working with found objects: Getting the object first then coming up with concept based on the object and working out the way to present it; or having the concept in mind then collecting objects and working out way to present the concept. I start my professional art training in college with working with found objects – the time when I found myself really comfortable and inspired under "Concept first, material support" structure. This experience basically structure my way of doing art and technique I choose later on. I see myself more as an "Idea-based" artist rather than "Material-based" artist. I always get inspired by personal experience, by stories people telling me, by environment around me – those are all important elements of my art which help me come up with an idea or concept; based on this idea or concept, I'll start to think what's media and material I should choose to present this idea or concept. I had experience on photo, sculpture, video and printmaking, it is really hard to say I concentrate more on one or two of them, or working with one of them more often. Usually I will choose the technique which will be really interesting to work with under the certain concept or idea I have in mind; or the technique / material has some kinds of connection with the idea which will help well present the concept and help develop the idea further. This way of doing art encourages me to continually search possibilities for my art as well as constantly learning and doing art.

Complexity - Simplification
For a very long time, my experience on collage art in middle school and high school played a very important role in my art making. You can see layered colors in my print pieces, Multi screens in my video art, complex structure in my sculpture. I always wanted my art to include enough information for the audience, expressing all my thoughts and feelings. I'll say I wont realize the necessary of leaving "empty" space on the art piece and the idea of "less is more" if I didn't go through this stage of making "complex art". There is definitely transition happening in my art making recently. I'm more focusing on the idea itself rather than paying too much attention on showcasing the complex technique and everything I can do within one piece. At the same time I want to leave even create more "space" for audience to read and interact with the art piece.