The Mandarin Painting

Devon based artist specializing in large oil and ink paintings, installation work and digital images. View more of my work at
www.clemso.com

About my work

Tracing the Intangible

My work is an on going investigation into my Chinese identity, but also the feeling of loss, a numbness of something not quite there.
I can be a person at cross-purpose with myself, a dual identity that reveals itself in the texture of my work, but at the core, a true sense of self transcends and binds all that has come before, into one cohesive visual whole.

Through a combination of the traditional and digital process, I am able to peel back and reveal hidden layers of abstracted texture and subtle gestures of narrative transmitted as compelling portraiture and installation work. This desire to connect with my ancestral past feels intangible but it is there nevertheless and I want to convey that. My parents travelled from the South of China, laying down roots here in Liverpool, England in late 1957, the city where I was born and my work touches on the diaspora and this cultural conundrum.

The aim of my work is to entice you with a simultaneity of narratives and to nurture your soul with a virtual feast of visual flavours. My desire is for you to stay awhile and converse with my ancestors and perhaps reflect, reminisce about your own family connections. Where am I from? Who am I really? What are all the conditions that caused me to exist in my present form?

My current work sees me unravel my outer shell and burrow deeper into the underbelly of my own identity and the link between my past, present and future. This is reflected in my illustrations, which begin with the flow of Chinese ink, bleeding, layering and merging with photographic elements such as food, ghost money and terracotta warriors, suggesting, connection, memory, culture and the afterlife.