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Artist Statement:

‘My art is like my shopping’ is how I often describe my work. I glance through the abundance of mundane objects and contemplate their reasonings - what they mean to me, an artist immersed in popular culture, and how they are represented to the public. I ask the questions, gather relevant objects, cook it down, and then present it again to the public as “artworks”. The chosen ingredients are soaked with existing intentions that enriches the final results. All these elements derive from and are intertwined with personal experiences.

‘Do I Make You Proud?’ acts on such motives and presents an ecstatic relic petrified in time. Complex with differing implications/suggestions with the use of toy guns, but the vicious edges are emasculated by the coatings of overjoyed smiles, marshmallow-like, plump bodies and explosively saturated gloss. A frosting-like ‘celebratory’ aesthetic often appears in my work, much like ‘the cherry on top of the cake’ or a parade in a theme park – purposeless but strikingly desirable.

Desire marinates my fantasies which are entangled with such subject matters as personal identity, sex, sexuality, aesthetics, attention-
seeking, child-like playfulness/naivety, longing for abundance, hunger for applause, frustration with our given reality, a passive view towards politics – continually sprinkling onto the proverbial pile that is an everyday superficial pop culture.

“Solution To Us All - Obesity” is a close attempt to mimic an ‘open-world’ reality in my mind. The elements in the installation are put together like Legos in a playful way into bigger sculptures, which then function like attractions in a theme park. Everything in the space is trying to bounce pieces of memories or resemblance from the visitors (or an audience), without whom, the work can not proliferate as it needs to. The experience of being with the work is the means of communication. As the maker, I crave visitors’ applause and attention.

I take an intuitive approach to object-making. The objects are constructed in an unmethodical order but reverberate between me and the audience, much like being in a Disney-esque location where visitors are entitled to take pleasure in with no strings attached. I visualise my sculptures to ultimately exist here where visitors no longer struggle, don’t feel frustration, only receive encouragement, feel no burden and are participants in awe-inspiring activities.