Helena Hsieh
The girl in the painting is a construct of who I am at a certain place and time. I try to reclaim these fleeting passages of time. Through scenes of quotidian moments, I use the body to convey a specific emotion and experience. These seemingly ordinary passages of time form a larger narrative that speaks of those quiet, self-reflective moments that happen between actions and the psychological space that the moment embodies. Through the process and medium of painting, I monumentalize these moments. This process feeds into the never-ending dialogue between myself and the world surrounding me. I express emotion and mood through my use of color and light.
The desire to know myself as both subject and object in relation to my surroundings drives my work. It is through viewing myself and my persona through different scenes, whether it is the intimate space of the home, the cathedral-like areas of the museum, or the confines of the city, that I can come to a more introspective understanding of self and human experience.