ABOUT
I am a Toronto-based Canadian-Chinese multimedia artist, sculptor, illustrator, painter, and maker of earrings. My art practice is deeply rooted in my lifelong struggle with mental health, and even as a child, I found refuge in art making. It is a safe space where I can navigate deeply felt emotions like a puzzle. Across all mediums, a visual language composed of obsessive detail, entanglement, darkness, and light embodies an emotional and turbulent psychological world. I have vivid, surreal, whimsical, and illogical dreams that inspire my drawings and paintings. Beginning in 2020 (because of quarantine and climate anxiety), I played with found materials to declutter my apartment without disposing of anything. This experiment burgeoned into a series of sculptures that symbolize the human experience where chaotic energy, unlikely objects, and trash take on a new life.
My earliest artistic influences include the beautiful hand-drawn and hand-painted illustrations in search-and-find and children’s books. It was a joyous experience to escape into fantastically crafted worlds. Here sprouted my adoration for detail and the desire to create a similar search-and-find experience for viewers. As destiny propelled me into city life, 9+ years of crowds, human-made structures, and materialism have made their way into my art, and climate uncertainty fuels my desire to upcycle and inspire people to do the same. I want my art to spark dialogue where our vulnerabilities and fragilities can be shared and seen, for people to see their darkness as a source of strength rather than a deficiency, and for people to see potential in what society defines as “trash.”
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
2020 - 2021 | Graphic Design & Visual Communication Skills, Continuing Studies Certificate Program - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2015 - 2020 | BFA Drawing & Painting - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2019 | Exchange program, Fine Art - DJCAD - Dundee, UK
GALLERY REPRESENTATION & MEMBERSHIP
2022 - 2024 | Sponsored Member - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 | Fix Up Look Sharp - Northern Contemporary Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2024 | Perpetually Emerging - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2023 | Nuit Blanche - Blitz Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2023 | TOAF62 - Toronto Outdoor Art Fair - Toronto, Canada
2023 | How I See You - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2022 | Off the Wall - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2022 | Time Spinning - Curated by Madge Yao - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2022 | Twenty Something - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2022 | and all of a sudden - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2022 | Re-Imagine - City Arts and Institute of Mental Health - Nottingham, UK - Online exhibition
2022 | The Pancakes & Booze Art Show - Revival Event Centre - Toronto, Canada
2022 | Creating Inclusive Spaces - OCAD U Career Launcher with Mackenzie Investments - Toronto, Canada
2022 | Yue Moon 完滿: Tiger With Wings 如虎添翼 - STEPS Public Art - Toronto, Canada
2021 | Limitless - Florence Contemporary Gallery - Online Exhibition - FINALIST
2021 | Mistletoe Magic - John B. Aird Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2021 | Off The Wall - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2021 | The End - Gallery 1313 - Toronto, Canada
2021 | TOAF60 - Toronto Outdoor Art Fair - Online Art Fair
2021 | Bloom Fest - Purple Glow Magazine - Online Exhibition and Artist Panel
2021 | APOCALYPSE: The Here and Now - Apocalypse Exhibition - Online Exhibition
2021 | Salon 15 - Propeller Art Gallery - Online Exhibition
2021 | Made to Love: Our Love Language Mystery Art Auction - OCAD U- Online Exhibition
2020 | GradEx 105 - OCAD U - Online Exhibition
2020 | Off The Screen 2020 - Propeller Art Gallery - Online Exhibition
2020 | Intellectually Engaged - Social Distance Gallery - Online Exhibition
2020 | Empowering Recovery - The 2020 Mental Health Europe Empowerment Webinar hosted by Mental Health Ireland - Online Exhibition
2020 | The Class of 2020 - The Gathered Gallery - Online Exhibition
2020 | Drawing & Painting Class of 2020 GradEx105 Show - OCAD U & Propeller Art Gallery - Online Exhibition
2020 | Festival of the Body - Great Hall, OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2020 | Art Prom - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2020 | DRPT Thesis Process Work - Ada Slaight Student Hub, OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2020 | 10th Anniversary Awenda Inspired - Curated by Julius Poncelet Manapul - Ada Slaight Gallery, OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2019 | Open House - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2019 | Ada Slaight Studios Celebration - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2018 - 2019 | ART x BISSELL 2018 Art & Mindfulness - Claude T. Bissell Building, University of Toronto - Toronto, Canada
2018 | Beam On - Curated by Elizabeth Aguilar and Logan Bales - Old Town Hall - Newmarket, Canada
2018 | Hindsight - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2018 | E11even Restaurant Silent Auction - E11even - Toronto, Canada
2018 | The Big Picture Art Project - Online Exhibition
2017 | 36th Manning Awards Symposium - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2017 | Mindfulness: The Power of Art - Curated by Elizabeth Aguilar - Serpa M Gallery, Old Town Hall - Newmarket, Canada
2016 | Positivi-tea Show - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2016 | Awenda Exhibition - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2016 | First Year Celebration Show - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2016 | Ada Slaight Reception - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2016 | #10000ALLIES - Covernotes Coffee House - Richmond Hill, Canada
2013 | Doors of Hope - Nuit Blanche - Toronto, Canada
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2024 | Perpetually Emerging - Co-Curator with Serena Kobayashi-LeBel - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2023 | YOUphoria - Co-Curator with Serena Kobayashi-LeBel, Karlene Marie - Propeller Art Gallery - Toronto, Canada
2019 | Exuberant - Co-Curator with Danielle Coleman, Donny Nie, Mashayla Ritchie - Women's Art Association of Canada, OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
2018 | Notes from the Wind - Co-Curator with Kenny Tran - OCAD U - Toronto, Canada
PUBLICATIONS
2021 | Withintensions (Volume 23, November 2021, "Filters") - Vancouver, Canada
2020 | OCAD U Drawing & Painting Catalogue 2020 - Toronto, Canada
2020 | Acta Victoriana (AV 144.1.) - Editors-in-Chief Marco Istasy & Thomas Sider - Toronto, Canada
2019 | Polemical Zine (Issue 10, Volume 2, "Sweet") - Curator Rebecca McLaren - Toronto, Canada
2018 | Acta Victoriana (AV 143.1.) - Editors-in-Chief Sanna Wani & Maia Kachan - Toronto, Canada
SELECTED COMMISSIONS AND COLLABORATIONS
2021 | Collaboration cover art for "Symbiote" performed and written by Micelf Welch and Elliee Oh
2017 | Commission for Superior General Fr. Francis Chong of the Congregation of the Disciples of the Lord - CDD Headquarters - Taiwan
SELECTED AWARDS & ACCOLADES
2023 | Featured in the curated collection "Spookalicious" by TOAF Team - Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
2023 | Featured in the curated collection "Not Fragile" by Omar Badrin - Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
2023 | Featured in the curated collection "Now for Something Completely Different" by William Huffman - Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
2021 | Featured in the curated collection "Gary's Illustration Picks" by Gary Taxali - Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
2020 | Anne Adler Kagan Award - OCAD U
2019 | Frances Lea Ziegler Memorial Scholarship - OCAD U
2019 | St. George's Society of Toronto Bursary in Art & Design in Honour of Rosalie Sharp - OCAD U
2018 | Marsh Urquhart Memorial Scholarship - OCAD U
2018 | Women's Art Association of Canada Lynne Ritchie Scholarship - OCAD U
2017 | Sully Corth Memorial Fund Scholarship - OCAD U
2016 | Project 31 Drawing and Painting Award - OCAD U
2015 - 2019 | Delaney Scholarship - OCAD U
COLLECTIONS
Private collections in Canada, Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the UK