Liao Qian 廖倩
b. 1998 in Guangzhou, China
based in New York, homeland of the Lenape
bio+CV |
Poetic Encounters 诗意偶遇
This project started from a daily drawing practice I carried out in 2022 summer. Everyday, I drew on a piece of 11 by 14 paper with the same box of oil pastels. This repetitiveness made me feel safe and enabled me to savor the creative freedom leveraged by extreme material restrictions. These drawings started from either a moment, a line or a shade, all unplanned accidents. There were no references, no strings attached; strictly wandering.
This practice was my effort to break away from production-oriented mindset and the constant self-critique I struggle with--wounds in my ego. When making these drawings, myself was my only tool and resource. After a long dissociative hibernation, I wanted to rekindle my passion for art, the kind of innocence, confidence and freedom I experienced when I was four.
The exhibit location, a Taiwanese boba store near where I live, is of personal significance. It’s free to put up works, warm and smells sweet. In the 2000s, Taiwanese bubble tea swept through mainland, including Shanghai, the city I lived in. Next to my middle school, there was a small place selling boba tea (珍珠奶茶) and popcorn chicken (盐酥鸡). After a long day of taxing schoolwork, I often stopped by on my way home to satisfy my cravings. In my memories, the smell of boba store resembles a quick, cheap, yet nourishing snack and a warm room filled with casual chitchats.
This project is about self discovery, an intimate path to recovery/rebirth, the way home. Process-based, experimental and poetic, this series of works assembles into a maze of metaphors for the viewers’ witness and choice of navigation.