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TAR
Garden of Wounds XII
Fiona Hsu
ARTIST STATEMENT: In a series of paintings I created, Garden of Wounds, my inspirations sprout from an injury that stopped me from doing the thing I loved: figure skating. Symbolism and motifs became the copious and essential parts in my artworks, since we all need something to relate with, to be comforted by, and to remember of, so that we won’t feel alone and isolated for exposing reflecting ourselves. I explored the senses and textures of wounds, and urged to not only seek for the beauty and innocence within something that doomed me, but also remind others of their failures in life. As the elegance of a wound’s restoration is accentuated and portrayed through motifs of human figures and birds, I hope the viewer will accept the fragility that led to their failures and appreciate the healing journey that comes with it. I also want my paintings to visualize something that cannot be seen—be it the complex forms of emotions and hidden weaknesses, which is why the narrations are depicted through whimsical and far-fetched elements. Such as the intense interactions between the wounded humans and birds could address a specific essence within the realm of emotions, and the portrayal on self-manipulation of a wound could point out a conscious knowing of a personal quality. All in all, my duty as an artist is to accentuate aspects of beauty within melancholic and woeful definitions people tend to ignore, deny, and detest in their cores, and demonstrate the concept through the narrations of an unsettling tale.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Fiona Hsu was born in February of 2001 in Orange County, California. At the age of five, her artistic journey ignited when her mother encourages her to make paper dolls instead of playing with cheap plastic toys. As she became better with her hands, her paper friends inspired her to keep creating. And so a passion for art ignited. She started drawing and painting on her own ever since, and during her recovery from a foot tendon surgery back in 2015, she developed blazing passion for fine art photography at the age of fourteen.
Her works capture the aspects of beauty within woeful and melancholic definitions that narrate quaint and odd stories, in which she hopes her art serves as rusty mirrors for her audience—reflecting and reminding them of a quality and/or memory from the past.
Fiona’s artworks are inspired by her dreams at night, her childhood imaginations, and the complex forms of emotions she discovered within herself. After all, Fiona’s surreal photographs are meant for her to relive the dreams she kept safely in her dream journal and imagine the ones that haven’t yet been dreamed in her slumber. And her drawings and paintings and meant for her to remember a memory, emotion, and/or secret she encountered in her life.
In Fiona’s greatest achievements, she has won first place in Yorba Linda Women’s Club art competition in 2019 with recognition from Congress, Senate, and Assembly, and she is a National Silver Medalist of Scholastic Art and Writing Awards 2019. Fiona is currently studying at UCLA as an undergraduate studio art major.
"Garden of Wounds XII" is selected as the digital cover art for the December issue.
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