After taking several years off from painting, I have returned to the canvas. The time away has allowed me to go within deeply, while exploring the more easily accessible medium of photography and collage. I needed to address and face my sudden move back to Canada after living and working in Hong Kong for 27 years. I wanted my work, namely paintings, to reflect this change. Elysium is the start of this new journey.

Elysium

Artwork created after learning about the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, China.

Corona20

Fragmented human bodies in chaos and sublimes settings for the basis of this collection.

Carnal Pleasure

This is collection that is inspired by the seven deadly sins, namely: pride, greed, lust, gluttony, envy, wrath and sloth. As a young child growing up in the Canadian prairies, I was influenced spiritually by both my peers and my parents. The sins were not strictly taught to me, but the idea of sin and its consequences was clear.  In time, I had to dispel everything and begin anew. As an adult, I am not so much confronted with the religious aspects, but the emotional aspects and it's connection to our ego environment. This series of work is a reinvestigation of primordial human emotion as represented through animals. 

Seven Sacred Sins

Overwhelming stress from a family relationship brought me to the brink of an anxiety attack, prompting me to take action and resolve the situation through a calm discussion with the family member. This inspired a series of graffiti-style works on paper.

Hard:Rewired2

The mythical land of Arcadia is used as a backdrop for this series. An orb/sphere or geometric element disrupts the otherwise cohesive space. In many of the Arcadia paintings, the orb is represented by a planet or moon, a stark contrast to the background. This disruption is a form of awakening to ourselves and the planet on which we reside.

Arcadia

The series of artworks I have recently painted are graphical abstract paintings that emerge from the depths of my inner subconscious. Each piece represents a unique amalgamation of symbols, carefully balanced colors, shapes, and expressive gestures. The inspiration behind these compositions draws upon the fluid motions and visual characteristics of molecules suspended in a vibrant tapestry of colors. The resulting artworks invite viewers to delve into a world where the boundaries of perception and imagination blend harmoniously.

Corpuscular

After an unsettling few months during recovery from a dog bite and drawing only on paper and smaller works, I finally came back to painting onto a large canvas. Drawing upon the work from Ode to New York, the paintings that surfaced became a mixture of bold and thick brushstrokes combined with drip marks.

Visitation

Continuing in the Visitation series of repeated gestures and marks, I began to feel that this painting was more about landscape and place than about the spark of inspiration. I could clearly see that I was heading in the direction of something different. As such, I looked for an appropriate title for a place that was unknown and scoured the internet. The name of Lemuria, a lost land located somewhere in the Indian or Pacific ocean surfaced.

Lemuria

Urban Geometry is a series of hard-edged artworks that reflect information and network systems that have dominated the way we live and work. The first sub-series is entitled 'Metrowire'. 

Urban Geometry

The city of Hong Kong is in turmoil and chaos due to the protests during the last few months. Protesters are fighting against the government’s police force as the city’s majority sees the constant erosion of democracy in front of their eyes. The government entities that are supposed to lead the city have fallen silent and numb. If the first protestor were peaceful, it has become violent and dangerous now. Weekend after weekend, the scenes escalate. Many are wounded seriously and some have lost their lives for civil liberty. The city surely is not the same as when I first arrived in 1994.

Khaos Series

I heard the saying that portraits taken by a photographer are more a reflection of himself than of the sitter. This then informed me of the title to this series, where 'Portraits of my own Kind' deals with my own identity on being Asian, and my own discovery as such when I moved to Hong Kong and had to find my 'place' within this city. I still seek to find myself through the images and painting I create. 

Persona

Taking cues from Pointillism and the use of colored paints in creating variations of light to dark, I have taken this idea to creating energy landscape or vibration fields of color. 

The Vibratory Field

HARD:REWIRED is a reactionary creation of artwork that I was compelled to do after being bitten by a dog. I found refuge in executing a more aggressive approach using the medium of paper and wood. The style is reminiscent of Basquiat’s heavy-handed graffiti marks and Cy Twombly’s whimsical yet restrained scratches.

As my arm healed, a disturbing unease settled into my being. A deepness rose within me that was horrible with discontent. I am torn inside. I found solace in reading “Molecules of Emotion” by Dr. Candace Pert, a neuroscientist whose seminal work in opiate receptors brought together science and spirit. Her thoughts and words found a path into my drawings. 

Hard:Rewired

Artwork what was initially influenced by the mass shooting in Orlando, as it compelled me to explore a different, more emotional side to my work. The paintings that flowed are charged and frenetic, yet still highly colourful and emotive. 

Pulsation Series

Patches of color in a field of background pastels. This the physical manifestations of listening to impressionistic emotional music compositions that bring a sense of peace and serenity to the living in a city that operates too fast for the sense. The patches of color are created first as an under layer, and then subsequently covered by another layer of varying shades, usually in pastel. 

Windows of Memory

A set of paintings inspired by the infinity symbol, to which I find fascinating and spiritual, much like the symbol O or the circle. 

Infinity Series

All of the following artworks are based from the pivotal piece entitled 'Symphony of the Divine', where the vertical brushstrokes and sweeping gestural colors are carefully integrated in creating a unified language of motion, energy and spirit. 

Norm Yip