art by Carol Kong

About Me

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My art is inspired by the quiet interruptions of daily life. The moments when I stop to stare at a shadow, or notice reflected light, or am awestruck by the chromatic vibrancy of 'grey' or 'brown' colours. I strive to seize these moments of poetry in life and to recreate them. It is a never-ending journey to see things as they are, and skim the surface of understanding nature.

The presence of form is at the core of my practice, tying together my work in painting, ceramics, and wool. The materiality and the emotional response of the different visual and tactile qualities of each medium, allow me to explore how we perceive form and its affect on us. 

On Painting - I always prefer to paint directly from life, in order to engage with the subtleties and slight nuances that emerge only from being intensely present. To put paint to canvas is to validate that I have fully seen. It is to appreciate isness; the fact that a thing is. Hence, painting is a meditative process and is my emotional release; how I quiet a chaotic mind. I transpose this solitude as a longing to take pause in the forgettable moments that pass quickly in daily life. I empathize with the things that go unnoticed, things that are just there, waiting to be seen. I paint mundane things just as they are: extraordinary.

On Ceramics - Working with clay expands my intuition, to better understand by feeling rather than to understand by knowing. I gravitate towards pinching and hand-building forms; a slow and sensual interaction of listening and allowing each form to become unto itself, while merely facilitating with my hands. The emotive power of an object fascinates me. In my ceramic practice, I play with precarity and presence in a form.

On Wool - My textile crafts are made by needle-felting wool, with a focus on whimsical creatures. This is both an outlet of and pursuit of pure joy. In the minimalistic lines and fullness of forms, I am exploring how simplicity brings happiness.

Outside my art practice, I am a Professional Engineer in civil and transportation infrastructure. I focus on planning, designing, and implementing public transit improvements at the City of Vancouver. The parallels between my engineering background and artistic expression show strongly in my analytical approach and intense curiosity. Both these pursuits are influenced by my journey from growing up in Toronto, soul searching in Calgary, humbling adventures through the Rockies, and growing community roots in Vancouver and the Okanagan Valley. I am continually searching to understand my identity as a Chinese-Canadian, and I am grateful to be freely living, working, and expressing myself on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish Peoples and the Syilx Okanagan Peoples.

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