evolution

** i warn that this is an unusually long post.
something's gotten into me lately. -_-



(my work environment circa 2005-2006)

this is mostly for my own record, since i'm not sure
if anyone would be interested to know...
browsing through my iphoto last night, i thought maybe i'd document
evolution of my studio space.

matthew and i used to both live and work in a tiny 350 sq.ft. apartment,
where you can see my work space of about 3ft x 2ft area (top above).
the bottom photo shows how i used to sketch, on the floor.

then i moved to a 2x larger apartment here in brooklyn,
where i had a whole dining nook for a nice studio area...
which used to look so empty and desolate in the beginning :





(last photo being the current setup).

i can't believe how i used to work in my tiny, old work area.
it seems that i've changed the layout of my new studio around
about 4-5 times... -_-;;

then i saw some older works i've done, as experiments and process,
which also evolved over time, if not jumped around :


first real painting attempt (study). done on the floor crouched, too. (2005)


study on found wood - charcoal and gesso. (2005)


my first piece done only in oil paint. (2006)


some painted eggs i did in 2006.

and these, i don't think i've never shown before.
some vinyl dolls for girl i'd designed when i worked as a toy designer :



they were designed in... 2002-2003, i believe.
all parts (heads, hair, top bodies, shoes, clothes, legs) are interchangeable.
basically knock-off pinky dolls.
i used to have to do a lot of knock-offs, it can't be good for your soul...

it's amazing how different life seems only a few years ago sometimes.
i wanted to remind myself of that.

ink + wood

last night's damage :
working on drawings and experimenting with paper...

paintings are shipped off to be framed, and now,
i'm just wrapping it all up for the upcoming show.

i can't believe i actually have nearly 2 weeks before the show.
that had never happened yet, i shamefully admit. -_-;;;


....................


also, i photographed this wooden sculpt practice thing
i made last may :



it's originally a handle of sort that matthew purchased
for me along with a bag full of other wood things at a closing down
wood store on st. marks a while back.
it came painted in glossy black like that, which inspired me
to sculpt the leaf pattern to start off.

what you see up there is where i stopped to wait for my dremel
to arrive - but i guess i got tired of it even after the dremel tool
arrived, so i ended up leaving it there like that for the past 8 months.
i'd gotten sore fingers and blisters from sculpting it,
the thing is obviously not meant to be sculpted.

but i hope to get some more practice at sculpting this year.
this was my first real sculpture attempt that isn't model-making...
my first wood sculpt practice! i'll probably try more with clay,
and some more wood later...

3-dimensional/spatial art is so exciting!

♥

the always inspiring margaret kilgallen (r.i.p).

group shot

group shot of all my canvas paintings for the show huddled up
for a shot together before being shipped off to get framed.

gosh, i apologize for the same looking shot over and over.
i'll try and take some photos of different angles and details.
possibly of the process too...

almost done...

finally got outside for a cup of coffee this evening
after several days spent as a hermit wrapping up paintings.

almost ready to ship out the paintings to be framed in seattle,
(after hurdling the scanning process on my new scanner!)
and working on some more drawings for the show.

+ + +

sometimes finishing off paintings is kind of hard.
i don't really want it to stop, but want to finish them too...
then i always feel like there's something more to be done to them.
maybe because i paint a bunch concurrently and feel so much intensity,
i feel a bit of an emptiness or something along the line
after they've left my hands.

i work this way most of the time to keep all pieces on the same page in my mind.
so none of them look too off to me when i send them off together to a show.
i guess i'm a bit afraid i'd lose interest in the older works if they'd been
sitting around for some time.

this year, i'm going to experiment with painting a piece or two at a time,
at a more leisurely pace... and enjoy pacing them out.
with some other works like drawing and sculpting in between.
hopefully it'll make this blog a little more enjoyable too. ^_^

Monica Subide

beautiful figures by monica subide, whom i cannot find much about.

i especially love the emotion-filled brushstrokes of the first two,
and i feel schiele in the last one, beautiful... <3

On Seeing 100% Perfect Girl...

{ click on the image above & keep clicking to read }

audrey reminded me yesterday of this beautiful story above
by murakami haruki.
i'd once posted this visual version above some 3+ years ago,
and thought i'd share it again here.

another beautiful story : lederhosen from the same book.

his short stories hits a different kind of haunting resonance...
a quiet stir inside, an empty pause in the moment.

mirrored...

before:


after:


i switched the layout of my studio again (probably 4th time already).
this time, it just became a mirror-image version of "the before".
feels all fresh and new~. a good trick of mind, i think. ^_^



it's been snowing quite a bit lately...
walked in the snow on our walk back home after lunch <3
it's hard to tell cuz the flakes were small still.


matthew scooped up some snow for our kitties.

Carla Bedini

beautiful, haunting images by Carla Bedini.
i love the contrast of the delicate and the dark.

in progress...

and...
i caught bento red-handed (trying to hump noodles) :

belated magazine spreads

i had some interview questions to answer and images to archive, so
finally got around to scanning overdue interview & press articles.

all these are updated on the press section on my website.
(please click PRESS on left)

from hi-fructose magazine (from october 2008... -_-):
(click images to read)






below are some from DPI magazine and book from taiwan.
(i only got these a couple months ago, though i believe these were published early 2008.)

DPI magazine :




DPI Design Stars Boulevard vol 1 :



+ i've uploaded large images so they're readable - i hope they don't get abused or stolen.
thank you!

around the studio

painting late at night (again)...

and noodles stuffed himself into the clementine crate.