What inspires me to paint is my strong inner world’s subjective response to the outer world’s objective reality. My subjective response is influenced by my diverse East-West experiences, tradition, knowledge, and personal cultivation.
My creative process is strongly influenced by Taoist philosophy, finding the most natural and effortless way to express the essence of a specific subject for which I have deep feelings. Over the years, I have faithfully adhered to the following principles:
- Thorough knowledge of the subject matter
I paint only subjects of which I have knowledge. The subjects include all things, all beings, and their environment and activities. They are the objective reality of the outer world. - Strong feelings toward the subject matter
My feeling could be an aesthetic response to design elements, a spiritual awakening to an extraordinary phenomenon, a hostile sentiment to social injustice, a melancholic sensibility of human tragedies, a nostalgic remembrance of places, or a tenderness of relationships. These feelings are the inner world’s subjective response to the outer world’s objective reality. - Thorough understanding of design elements and principles
This helps me orchestrate the design elements to compose an abstract structure for my paintings. - Competent craftsmanship for expressing the subject matter in a natural way
This includes the drawing skill, the ability to handle specific media, and the willingness to explore the natural ways to express the subject matter.
The synthesis of the outer and inner world becomes the inspirational basis and contents of my work. The design and craftsmanship form the process for my expression.
My creative principles remain constant, but contents and processes are constantly evolving, broadening, and developing. Contents diversify with the expansion of experience and knowledge. Processes continue to evolve and expand as I constantly explore the most natural way to express new subject matter.
Painting in watercolor I feel that feelings and energy from my heart are most directly transmitted through the brush and medium to the sensitive paper surface, transforming into the most direct, honest, and true visual marks.
My approach to watercolor painting is a dynamic process and an effort to harmonize opposite elements: yin and yang, intuition and contemplation, emotion and reasoning, incident and intention, subjectivity and objectivity, imagination and reality, abstraction and realism. The end result is the visual realization of my inner being that I hope will communicate on a universal and timeless level.
© 2018 Cheng-Khee Chee