LED (2019)

This work was selected as part of the Ontario Society of Artists' Emerging Artist Exhibition 2020, a juried show.

When I visited my hometown of Qingdao, China in 2018, I saw the subject of this painting, a girl who was likely younger than myself, selling light-up balloons near the harbour. As families of tourists bustled about, she stood alone in the middle of the road, with a desolation that could only be captured by the garishly lit urban fixtures which surrounded her. I started on this scene as part of a 12 week course with Keita Morimoto, which greatly improved my understanding of light, form, and composition - although the painting itself took much longer for me to complete.