Piao,
Sophia.
Recent Works
Urban Angels.
Among Terracotta Roses
Acrylic on canvas paper
5.5x8.5"
November, 2024
The composition of these two individuals embracing each other similarly draws from my other "Americana" exporations; in addition, the two subjects featured are spotted wearing fashionable dress from the mid-1940s. However, parting from what might otherwise follow a typical composition of some mid-century film photo portrait of loved ones, I choose to add several layers of thin glaze using a permanent but transparent rose color for the highlights. As with Mad Hatters at Work and I Hope You Die By My Bedside the unfocused expressions add to this unease. From the shorts and short sleeves, it is inferred that they are sitting on grass cast under bright sunlight. Although they are holding each other close on a warm summer afternoon, the exact relationship between them is tense and unclear.
Mad Hatters at Work
Acrylic on canvas paper
6x6"
October, 2024
This painting depicts a couple in some kind of retro-futuristic grocery store. Beginning this painting, I knew I had to include a lemon yellow raincoat. As with I Hope You Die By My Bedside and Urban Angels Among Terracotta Roses, the expressions of the two figures are obscured, but from their poses, despite clear familiarity, there is still distance, coldness, and a lack of understanding, but forced compromise between the subjects.
I Hope You Die By My Bedside
Acrylic on canvas paper
6x6"
October, 2024
This painting actually takes from a composition idea I had a few years ago and is set in what my bedroom looked like then. I love painting interiors with bright-colored walls. I added a fair bit of tint to what the actual lighting would have looked like, so the cyan walls would lean closer to blue rather than green under the typical, warm incandescent lightbulbs found in many homes. Other than the brightly colored wall, the room is otherwise furnished familiarly to the viewer. As with Mad Hatters at Work and Urban Angels Among Terracotta Roses, the expression of the figure is obscured. However, even with a lack of a face, so-to-speak, the subject stares at the viewer intently while holding a clock that would otherwise be hung up on the wall.
Where'd You Go?
Acrylic on canvas paper
6x6"
October, 2024
For all those times I'll ride back on the El, I'll be lost in thought, and sometimes think of some passing comment, something that was funny really only in that moment. I'll turn to my side, ready to share whatever's on my mind, but then I remember I'm riding back on my own. This particular view was along Green Line, from Ashland headed back to the loop.
Nightlife
While taking that same digital photography and printing class, I was free to spend my evenings walking around and taking as many photos as I wished. I greatly enjoyed flash photography after dark to highlight and cut the foreground and/or the subject to a separate plane. In spite of the urban setting, I was inspired by the brightness of a singular, isolated "midwestern gas station” to create a drawing of brightly illuminated orange traffic cones in an empty parking lot.
Where'd You Go?
Acrylic on canvas paper
6x6"
October, 2024
I love walking around mindlessly on summer nights. Bright, artificial street lamps light up the grass to a ridiculous neon lime green color, which I depicted by glazing a thin layer of lemon yellow over a base layer of opaque titanium white. I completed this painting soon after taking a digital photography and printing class this past summer, where I stumbled upon Melissa Cantese's Dive Dark Dream Slow, a small catalogue drawing from Peter J. Cohen's photography collection, and so these film photography works were fresh on my mind.