Grey Cube Gallery proudly presents the first Abstract show for the month of May 2020. The show encompassed a range of artistic styles and mediums (photography, digital, mixed media, collage, oil on canvas, acrylics, spray paint, epoxy resin, enamel, watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, drawing). Each submission has been judged based on the following elements of artistic expression: orginality and quality of art, overall design, creativity, interpretation of the theme, demonstration of artistic ability and usage of medium. Out of all entries, 107 artworks were shortlisted for inclusion in the show. The competition attracted entries from many countries across the world: USA, Canada, Italy, Brazil, Ireland, Greece, Australia, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Finland, Malaysia, Japan, France and South Africa. Enjoy the show and thank you for expressing an interest in our competition.

My work explores the technological advancement of fabrication methods. Technology eliminates inefficiency, but is inefficiency always an undesirable characteristic? By utilizing historical methods of working by hand in combination with contemporary computer aided methods, this work explores the interdependent relationship between the two. When working by hand, a marker of good craftsmanship is often the lack of evidence of human touch, yet pristine and identical objects produced by machine are usually viewed with less reverence. By obfuscating the viewer’s ability to identify work completed by either method, these sculptures challenge the values we believe to be innate. From a distance this work appears to be perfectly manufactured. The presumed straight lines and square edges produce a sense of sterility akin to machine-made objects. But up close, the hand of the maker is clearly evident. Each flaw though unintended, purposefully signifies authorship. These sculptures embody the sense of uncertainty that occurs in the transition between viewing at a distance and viewing up close. As the two-dimensional lines wrap around the transparent volumetric forms, the lines themselves are perceived as floating three-dimensional objects. The creation of ambiguous space leaves the viewer with additional uncertainty about where physical objects begin and end, which spaces are occupied, and which remain empty. This treatment of space parallels the viewer’s uncertainty when trying to discern the value of these objects based on how they were made. This uncertainty is also found when considering the future of fabrication methods. Too often we equate novelty with efficiency and as time progresses, we allow new technologies to eclipse the old. Having used technologies from antiquity, the Industrial Revolution, and the Technological Revolution in the creation of this work, I have a greater appreciation for the spectrum of efficiency on which they all exist.

'Ranbu' is a non-brush painting series inspired and named after a Japanese pop single Ranbu No Merodi” - Melody of the Wild Dance by SID. This body of work reflects my playfulness with colors, pushing the boundaries between the world of design with its structures, principles, functionality and the fine art world of rawness, chaos and freedom. With my multidisciplinary practice, I creates this series as an abstract and contemporary series. The series has been described as ‘paintings that paint themselves’ and ‘camouflaged painting’ - as each acrylic painting was created without the use of paintbrushes on laser-cut plywood, while the final product looks like a Victorian piece of ceramic on uniform square canvases. This series marked a milestone in my fine art career not just because it was the longest or my most popular work by far, but it also marked my debut into the realm of abstract contemporary art. Through this project, I also found my artistic niche by manipulating materials and presentation platforms to produce art within one medium, that looks as if it were created within a different medium.

My sculptural drawings and paintings map memories of human interaction, manifested by broken, cut, torn, unraveled, painted, and sewn materials, assembled as metaphors of the many possible outcomes from damaged or mended relationships. The abstracted layers encapsulate the pain, the scars, the healing, and the joyous moments of life, from a gentle comment to a momentous loss, and everything in between. My surfaces are well stocked with complex layers of color or texture to mimic these complexities, scars from surfaces that have fallen apart and been rejoined to gesture the story of our existence, and materials assembled over time which index friendships or family connections rejoined with forward momentum. Hope is that advancing movement, it is the last thing to go, but is also the thing that forces us to stay the course, make an effort, and search for the possibility of repair.

By utilizing subtle spatial paradoxes, I strive to engage with a viewer’s mind, as well as their eyes. The paradox is enhanced by using color gradients and by uniquely shaping each wood panel. This allows me to take advantage of the human brain’s tendency to “see” a three-dimensional object where one doesn’t exist. In addition, using a thick acrylic impasto provides an actual dimensionality to the painted surface.