Conversation with the artist
MTY: Marlene Tseng Yu
LL: Luchia Lee
LL: For four decades, you have taken your artistic subjects from the nature environment. Visually, the paintings seemingly participate in abstract expression. During your artistic development, what changes have you seen or experienced?
MTY: My fascination with nature derives from its constant change in form, movement, and color. In my mind, I have countless images of nature. My challenge is to project what's in my mind on to the canvas or paper. I do not distinguish between representation or abstraction. Neither do I intend to project a personal stylistic approach to perspective, composition, or imagery. Rather, my prime emphasis is to focus on the natural phenomena of rhythm and movement.
LL: Earlier in your career, your work was figurative and portrayed images of actual objects such as zebras, and later you were inspired by microscopic objects, then by various natural subjects, and now by ice cracking. If your goal is to record the state of the environment, why do you use abstraction not representation?
MTY: The "Dream Series" came about from the accidental simulation of animal forms and human figures in nature. The diversion to paint representational objects was short-lived -- only for three years (1984-1986) in my career. I found the human body very limited. The "microscopic images" and "cracking ice" are but two series of 36 that I have done so far.
LL: Your work is mostly gigantic, and painting on canvas or on paper. Why do you choose this size?
MTY: Actually the gigantic works comprised only 10% of all of my paintings. Large paintings are time-consuming and complicated to execute. The difficulty increases proportionally when done on a continuous canvas, rather than in sectional parts. The visual impact of large paintings brings me greater challenge and satisfaction.
LL: Self-expression and representation both seem to appear in all your painting. How do reconcile them?
MTY: Self-expression and representation come seamlessly from my mind to my hand and the paint brush. There is no conscious effort to depict
