01 Mar 2025
There's a special event at JCCC: Haru Matsuri or "Spring Festival" (despite we're still in the middle of the Canadian winter). I'm going to be there to talk about my sculptural works to anyone that's interested.
As far as artistry goes, I'm simultaneously in my early stages of my art career and also not really. I've always had some sort of creative outlet throughout my life and I consider all life experiences as a part of the art making process. And because I'm pretty new at publicly showing art to the masses, I'm not actually that great at communicating my intention through art. I still kinda need to be there to explain my intentions rather than let the artwork speak for itself.
Without candidly revealing my identity as the artist for the sculptures, I had the opportunity to converse with the general public and other artists at the opening and they seem to understand the qualities of the works. Stuff like "they're in the water" or "the material plays well with backlight" or "The subject in the piece (Abyss) feels like it's closing itself up, but is slightly opening up to the world" are all things I've considered while making the pieces.
It's crazy to think that people can intuitively interpret such concrete concepts simply by looking at the work.
I've always thought that art is a communication tool, but I didn't realize that it was this potent. It's basically like a cryptography puzzle that people need to decipher using their own set of experiences and values.
But of course, the more obscure concepts are harder to interpret. I'm not sure if it's because I'm still not adept at communicating through art or that higher level concepts are genuinely too difficult to communicate through visual media without accompanying texts. I'd like to think that I'm not there yet, since symbolists in the past were able to communicate their intentions through graphics -- though granted, allegorical paintings such as stuff by Bocklin are pretty straightforward due to the simple titling of the piece and the use of generally agreed on symbolism such as the scythe wielding skeleton as the personification of death.
Or maybe it's fine to keep the higher concepts obscure. Maybe the intellectual challenge of deciphering the art in itself is part of the joy of being an art enthusiast. Ultimately, the interpretation of an art piece is the product of the viewer's experiences and values.
28 Feb 2025
I've decided to redo the blog from scratch and also to give the more serious side of my sculptures its own website. This way, my oeuvre will have a distinct progression separate from my more experimental stuff that's likely going to lead nowhere.
I'm a firm believer that everyone in the creating business needs to constantly experiment new styles, materials, and concepts to keep being creative. A technique or skill from one genre will eventually be incorporated into or give new insight to another. Heck, even exotic travel destinations and experiencing something out of your norm will generate ideas that'll eventually worm its way into your other works.
Even experiences that are often categorized as negative will have profound impact on you as a person, and therefore, the works you produce.
I've always struggled to come to terms with total death and being completely forgotten. The traditional way to continue your legacy is by settling down and have offsprings to take a bit of your genetic material into the future -- past our short, human lifespan. At the stage I'm in right now, settling down and building a family is kinda out of the question. Not only am I struggling to make enough money to properly ensure a good enough future for the hypothetical partner and kid, but there's some sort of character deficiency that makes it difficult for me to foster a relationship with someone.
As such, I've mostly devoted my free time to art and the act of making stuff. At the very least, the thought of my works existing beyond my lifetime comforts me. I thought about devoting some time to digital art, but seeing how easily it is for art to become lost media on the web (all it takes is a good shutdown of a host site for that piece of work to vanish into the ether), I've put more effort into physical media. As long as the works are taken care of by a decent institution, works can likely exist for a significant amount of time.
Still, there's a lingering itch that even physical media will eventually crumble with the passage of time. I debated whether I need to figure out a way to make art using an extremely durable material like tungsten carbide, but this is most definitely in the madness territory. The only way out of this uncomfortable dilemma is by philosophizing my way out.
I actually came with the something that sort of gave me closure. It was while thinking about genes and viruses. Even if a piece of art turns to dust, as long as someone observes the piece and thinks about it for a moment, I'd like to believe that a little bit of that artwork will fuse with the person, and the concept will influence their actions from there forward. In turn, the person may make something that'll be perceived by even more people, so like a virus, the thought will propagate forever.