Grace Wen

Formally, I am a representative abstract artist: all my images start with a specific reference drawn from the natural world based on its compositional potential, or because of my psychological, intellectual, or philosophical attachment to it. The idea is then stripped down to its general core and surface through abstraction and connotations with the use of bright colors, strong values, and flattened, decorative spaces that recall the qualities of the Symbolist, Aesthetic, and Art Nouveau movements. The resulting intensions will engage viewers in a meditative exercise and lead them towards their own conclusions about my art. Although I have a personal interpretation, I shun an official interpretation because my goal is not to create didactic discourse, but to encourage multifaceted, if even contradictory narratives of my images. My work exists in a constant state of conjoined meanings, and becomes a symbol of the thread that connects the differing narratives. It is unattached, though not forgotten, from my original intent.