Yu

Michelle Hao

ARTIST STATEMENT

This piece is a look at the shimmering rows of supermarket fish I see for sale every Saturday in a different light. In other words, it is an attempt to capture the vibrancy of a life since past through loose brushstrokes and dabbed colors. Acrylic, my medium of choice, is apt for conveying emotion and juxtaposing complementary colors. Thick smears and dabs of vibrant, opaque hues breathe life to motionless form, and I hope viewers are able to find the feeling of the extraordinary in the seemingly mundane through my piece. This artwork is grounded in my personal experiences with weekend grocery trips to the seafood aisle, and allows viewers to re-experience such everyday happenings with a directed focus under the artist’s lens. The use of a large canvas size enables the details and hues of the piece to come into focus, and the spirit of enduring beauty in the simplest of things is the crux of “YU.”