Artist Statement - The Flowers Statement Series

　　My decades-long career as fabric and fashion designer eventually led me to the path of a painter and multimedia artist. My passion for fabrics and materials culture, especially the repetitive nature of patterns, has been the source of my imagination and creation. To me, colour, texture and details are the keys to good design.

　　Before I became a painter, my drawing and painting ability was manifested in a series of illustrated books that explains Chinese traditional stories and introduces Chinese architecture to both young and adult English-speaking readers. In those drawings, I started to experiment in painting "virtual fabric" onto architecture where colour, texture and details still play a significant part. This method transforms a narrative illustration into a surreal painting. This series of books were very well received by readers and sold out quickly.

　　Not until I immigrated to Canada with my husband and two daughters did I start creating more paintings of the "virtual fabric" wrapping rocks that I call The Flowers Statement Series. This series developed into a project that includes installation, video and photography.

　　Diary is a conceptual installation that consists of four pieces of printed fabric. The pink colour tone of the fabric resonates with the flowers and petals in The Flowers Statement Series, although the colour of each panel differs from each other slightly to symbolize the four seasons. On the fabric there are 364 rectangular boxes reflecting 364 days of one year of my life in both Vancouver and Beijing. Some boxes are filled with images I took during my daily life. Most of the images overlap with images of rocks I encountered and collected in Vancouver.

作者：吴洋