NEW ARTIST STATEMENT

bfa statement:

Above me, below me and to either side were lights. Lights of all colors, flashing sporadically, seductively, each with their own sense of urgency. Neon lights that grew from the sides of buildings as if they were alive, and they consumed entire structures whole. There was no end in sight to this limitless symphony of color and chaos. I shared this experience with more than a million other people, who made the landscape even more surreal and overwhelming. This was my first experience in a major metropolis. I was walking along Nanjing Road in Shanghai, China when this barrage of intense visual stimulus struck me. Nanjing Road is known as the busiest street in the world.

This excitement, the movement, and the perpetual energy of urban spaces have always inspired me. There is an inherent sense of chaos to an urban space that compels me to explore and ultimately become a part of its process. Quite literally, I have explored the urban space for years using cameras. My goal on these outings has always been the same: to capture and identify the smaller elements that begin this system. At this level, a much different structure begins to reveal itself. It is one of order and simplicity. In larger metropolitan areas, I believe it is this underlying structure that allows the chaos to function as it does.

I am interested in both where this chaos begins, but also where it will lead. How limitless is mankind’s ambition to build? How will this ambition and desire transform the landscape? In Shanghai, over 400 high-rise buildings are built every year. The cityscape literally evolves before your eyes. Obviously, this rapid expansion comes at a price. It drains natural resources, compromises the living situations for millions in the city, and has numerous other implications to the environment.

I want to address these issues by creating a fantasy urban landscape. My urban landscape will be inspired from my own personal experiences in urban settings, my photographs and videos of various cities, and from my own imagination. I plan on using vector graphics as my primary tool for illustration. Upon completion, the scale of my urban landscape will be large. This is to convey the notion of a limitless urban space. Through detail and a wide color palette, I also hope to convey the chaos and energy inherent in all large urban spaces. To push my concept even further, I want to create a time-based element that will accompany my illustration.

This time-based element will utilize the buildings and other forms I have created in Illustrator to construct an entirely new landscape, one that literally does evolve before your eyes. Using programming, I essentially will bring my cityscape to life. Buildings will either spring up from the ground, disappear, or be replaced by other buildings. The end result will be an ongoing, ever-changing urban space. A time feature will let the viewer know how long the space has been evolving. The illustration accompanying the piece will be a reference point as to where the landscape initially began.