Artist: Shirley X.

 

Curatorial Statement

Shirley X.

Throughout my art exhibition, I want to mainly express the feelings, time through nostalgia and all of the different memories from the past. Each of the pieces chosen focuses on a past memory or passage of time or even the feelings being expressed that the viewer can possibly relate to in a way. I seek to portray these works of art through my own interest and myself in three different subjects.

As a viewer that walks in the direction of the largest scale painting Angels and Demons, expresses how the world needs some positivity sometimes as our society can hate and be negative most of the time. This work reminds us that we can all do something to create a light in someone’s day without even realizing it and giving the effort or shot for it to happen. When the viewer sees this piece, I want them to reflect it back to their own thoughts and see how positivity can really reflect on one’s mind.

The next piece that may allow the viewer to slowly travel their eyes down the piece would be the photo-joiner piece The Big Tree. The focus of the joiner draws the eyes of the viewer to this one big tree. The nostalgia of focusing on one specific object brings back all the forgotten memories from my childhood. This gives a sense to the viewer that some random things can be a past memory from your life, one that you probably don’t remember. When I look at the focus of this piece, it brings back events that happened in this one spot.

The final piece their eyes may be interested to travel to would be this bright watercolour painting The Leaning Focus. The bright colours of the grass and sky draw attention to the scenery. The composition slowly brings the viewer’s eyes to the focus and an interesting part of this piece would be the Tower of Pisa. Capturing these kinds of sceneries are truly important when you are on a vacation. It is proof you went to some beautiful places but also provides a way of seeing it in an art piece, like a nostalgic feeling as if you were actually there in front of it.

This exhibition is arranged to allow the viewer/audience to choose which of the pieces attracts them or even the thought that triggers a memory of their own when looking at any of the art pieces. The art pieces in this exhibition express a feeling that flies by. My intention in this exhibition is to flood the viewers' eyes and thoughts with meaning and giving their senses imagery to explore.  This allows them to experience past memories and times through my art works. experience with me of experiencing past memories and time.

Title:  Angels and Demons

Artist: Shirley Xie

Size: 81  x 121 cm

Medium: Acrylic Paint on Oil Canvas

Angels and Demons” is a 81 x 121 cm painting made with acrylic. This artwork expresses how negativity is cruel to this world and how we need to stop it. With the help of more positivity in the air and being more positive humans, we can overcome that issue. The left side of the composition represents the positive side of the world and how we are trying to destroy the negative dark side. This piece was Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe with the use of a bright colour palette and Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, the use of his techniques in the shadows of the angel.

Title:  The Big Tree

Artist: Shirley Xie

Size: 31.8 in x 40 in

Photographs on Foam Board

"That tree" is a photo-joiner that is composed of over 30 photographs. This artwork includes a landscape focusing on one main tree however some other details in the back as well as the border such as trees, a car, and rocks.  The fragmented photographs manage to create a realistic look of the tree giving a different perspective. The element of art that I was focusing on for this artwork is texture and shape. The elements in the photographs such as the stone, branches, brick shows the various textures in the whole piece put together. This photo-joiner was inspired by David Hockney and his techniques used to create a united piece.

Title:  The Leaning Focus

Date: March 15, 2021

Artist: Shirley Xie

Size: 27 x 35 cm

Medium: Watercolour and fine liner

To capture the focus and light of this scenery, The Tower of Pisa. My artwork, The Leaning Focus, is to mainly draw attention to the tower and the ancient building in Rome, Italy. The name of this piece came from how the Leaning Tower of Pisa is the main focus of the picture and one of the largest most popular places out there in Rome. This art piece was inspired by Thomas Girtin with his use of watercolour choice and warm tones for buildings.