Art Book | A Visual Diary

a note from me to you

Hey guys! This is Cher, writing to you from Shanghai, China.

Many of you guys have been contacting me about my art, asking me to create an art book. So here I am! 

If you ever get to know me, you'll know that I have an obsession with art-- the colors, composition. I practically breathed art: when I am not painting, I'm sketching possibilities in my head, feeling excitement to the point of becoming lightweight.

From painting to sketching, to charcoal, to collage, art frees me from stress, worry, and emotional swings. But that is not what made me fall in love with it. It was the ability to create— to give birth to an atmosphere of life, movement, texture, and hope.

This body of work is an insight on the teenage experience, with each work portraying a common but also uniquely personal teenage struggle. From juggling the pressure of academic excellence to struggling to find a sense of belonging among peers, the drawings present a woven story that journeys a day-in-the-life of an Asian teenager and attempts to answer one guiding question: How does a multicultural background enhance identity-loss among the adolescence?

In my works, I experiment with contrasts and textures and strive for the unexpected. Composition and rhythm are fundamental to my illustrations as I exaggerate proportions and emphasize volume and movement. I often incorporate my fascination for the human body and face by either portraying them realistically or simplifying them almost to abstraction, with obsessive attention to mark-making with the brush. 

For instance, in some of my pieces, I integrated tiny rectangular brushstrokes (that mimicked pixels) into a realistic portrait. Utilizing unexpected juxtapositions, my aim was to convey some sense of the particular emotional qualities in the act of "becoming digital". 

My illustrations are whimsical, but also vulnerable, incomplete, and thought-provoking, just like the identities of the adolescence.

I really hope you all enjoy this collection of work. If you like any of my drawings please feel free to vote and comment any suggestions! 

Your support means the world. 

I love you all.