Artist Statement Final

HSIN-WEI HSU

ARTIST STATEMENT

I love the arts. When I was an elementary school student, I found that drawing was the way that I could express my emotion. Now, I express myself to others through painting. When I am painting, I can strongly feel my mind and body are joyful. For me, the functions of arts are expressing feelings and making people happy.

I love making art, and also I like to see art. I read arts magazines, exhibition catalogs and other books, and these are important resources for me. I get informations not only by reading, but also feeling. Recently, I visited the US, Japan and China to see their real contemporary arts and of course I learned a lot. Besides, I try to learn something from other artists and I think it is the best way to improve my work.

I am a pop culture addict. For instance, I like Japanese comics, animations, Hollywood movies, action figures and video games. When I enjoy these pop culture products, I feel happy. Most of my inspirations come from them. This is very helpful when I am doing my paintings and drawings. The reason that I put the subculture symbols in my painting is I want to record a contemporary phenomenon. As a contemporary artist, I want to show people what is happening right now in the 21^st century, to record it. Recently, subculture has become a great trend to affect our life, and I want to introduce it to people who do not understand it. Also, I can use pop culture symbols well because I am very familiar with them. When people see my artwork, I want to make them feel a sense of fun.

I am try to make my artwork more dramatic and memorable. I use a flat style to show my idea on the canvas. Flat is one of the important characteristics of pop culture. Also, I prefer to use bright colors and I try to make the figurative characters have dramatic actions. The reason that I use these styles is because I want to make the audience have a strong impression. I hope that my artwork can be understood by not only artists, but also common people. Making artwork easy to understand is very important to me, because I want to let everyone enjoy my art and make them feel happy. Pop culture is interesting, and I put it in my painting to make the audience feel interested.

I have gotten great influence form the Pop Art movement. Andy Warhol, the master of Pop Art, tried to make common things becoming art and let everyone enjoy it. I totally agree with this idea; I want to make art that everybody can understand and enjoy easily. In my paintings, I use figurative objects and characters, and I presented by flat style with bright colors. The Contemporary Pop artist, Takashi Murakami, who created a trend of Japanese Pop culture is also an artist that I admire. He creates cartoon characters which are full of subculture components. He uses a super flat style, and he has become a great success.

However, the art environment in Taiwan is not popular, and being an artist in Taiwan is not easy. I am glad that I still can make art right now, and I hope that I can keep doing it.