Hui Tan's Studio

Statement About Pieces of This Show:

In these sixteen pieces, I have chosen to create two separate series of music inspired works. One series takes place in the western countries, while the other depicts eastern culture. For the western inspired pieces, I have added interesting plots to make them more playful. For the eastern inspired pieces, I chose to document the ancient Asian instruments, as I would like to let people know about them before they disappear.

1. Admirer1&2

The backgrounds of these two pieces were inspired by an actual old French town. When I saw the view for the first time, I imagined a whimsical story and visualized country boys persistently showing their admiration and innocent love to sweet ballet girls. Despite many failed attempts, they would never allow themselves to be disheartened or give up.

2. glass harp

This piece is inspired by the performance, Glass Harp, also known as Glass Harmonica. To play the glass harp, musicians put different levels of liquid in many glass containers and use their palms to rub the containers. The containers will emit different tones based on how light or strong the potency. The faster the musicians’ motion, the more amazing the rhythm becomes. To add to the mood of the piece, I made the setting for this story a rainy day, as I imagine that will create a more joyful sound when the rain drops on the glass containers, ground, and stream.

3.Rhythm Comes from the Blacksmith Shop

The idea behind this piece is very similar to “Glass Harp”, where children find joy in using various tools to create a harmonious song.

4. Rhythm Comes from the Mysterious Antique Shop

I think it would be surprisingly delightful to find something in the antique shop that is just like your own feature.

5.Crazy Little Musical Scientist

Benjamin Franklin’s story inspired me to create this piece. I think Benjamin Franklin is not only a great scientist but incredibly inspirational. I admirehis courage and imagination.

6.Into the wood

The movie, INTO THE WOOD inspired me to paint this piece. I have found that movies’ creators here are good at infusing a new energy into classical stories. I chose to put my own twist on the classical story of GINGERBREADMAN.In this piece, the fox is tricking the little gingerbread girl with his alluring musical band. In the movie Into The Woods, giants come down from the Heavens, but in my piece, the gingerbread giants come from the heaven to rescue their children.

7. Appreciation for Music in the Farmers’ Market

I took my two young children to the Farmer’s Market in Cerritos on a beautiful Saturday morning. I enjoyed the lively and relaxing open market atmosphere there. The colors of fresh vegetables and fruits, live music floating in the background and the smell of corn dogs wafting in the air…all these bring life to the farmer’s market. My children especially enjoyed the performance of the Mexican folk music band. My daughter gave some flowers to the performer to show her appreciation to their performance. I caught this sweet moment and painted it in my work. Through this warm interaction in my painting, audiences can feel harmony among people in the city we live.

The piece was selected in the 21th Spectrum.

8. Weekend on the Beach1&2

Both of these pieces were published in Guangzhou Daily Newspaper which is the mainstream media in southern China.

My works for this newspaper publication have a strong and informative narrative.

I have been painting illustrations and writing reports about the LA life for a mainstream newspaper in one of the largest southern cities in China from 2011 to now. The vibrant LA life inspires me to use my paintings to bringup social concerns in LAwhichthe Chinese public, under a different social system,finds interesting.I depict true representations about the urbanite love and their pursuit of happiness. My personal experiences plus my own lively bold expression are reflected inthe themes in my paintings.

My works are a blend of contemporary and traditional painting skills. My professional art training in China for over 20 years provides me a strong foundation in traditional realism. I use realistic skills to place current events and real characters in my illustrations to show my perspective. My paintings show that it is a universal language and a powerful tool to reach out to all walks of life.

Finally, my artworks reflect both of local and worldly, Eastern and Western cultural elements. I believe the best artistic language can transcend cultural barriers, and promote mutual understanding among people in the world. It’s also my goal and wish that I can use my paintings as a bridge to build good communication for the people of the world.

9. Chinese Mermen

In ancient China,some traditional folk tales were similar to western fairy tales. In the western fairy tales, the mermaids loved the human’s music, and in Chinese folktales, the baby mermen could appreciate human’s music with the gift of a lotus.

10. Traditional Asian Instruments1~5

These five pieces depict some traditional instruments that were popular in ancient Asia. As an artist, I think it is my duty to let more people know the old culture before it completely disappears. For example, nowadays, there are not so many craftsmen that can skillfully handle the production processof the porcelain or pottery wind instrument. People have found that the tone and sound that were made by the ancient wind instrument are much better than that of those currently being created.According to some geologists, this is because of the pollution in the northwestward areas of china, which contained the high quality pottery clay used to produce these instruments.I desire to depict the different traditional elements in my works, so that they might inspire others in the creation of theirown new idea or concept.