Reverie By Alissa Kim Tjen Artist Talk

I explore what is beyond water, especially the resting water that is quiet and serene.  As I observe the reflections on the water, I delve into the dualities of reflection and depth. Water not only replicates the world and objects in its reflections but also replicates the dreamer as it invites the dreamer into a new experience. Clouds live in symbiosis with deep water as waterlilies with the sky. Water allows images to intersect with each other, making it a universal home for the world underneath and above. I explore this phenomenon using acrylics which has the benefit of conveying the degree of opacity. The depth of water is conveyed with more opaque layers of paint while a transparent and watercolour-like fluidity reveals the overlapping world of sky and water.  

I am moving from representation to abstraction in order to make the process become an experience of being in nature. In my process, there’s a balance between chance and control, unexpected and expected and coincidental and intentional. I like my brush to guide itself, making its own movements. I like to control the shapes by giving loose strokes a defined form. There are areas that are dense with delicate shapes and lines that merge and overlay, while there are areas that are airy, open and simple. Intuitive choices conceal some layers and brushworks and allow those underneath to rise above. Some brush marks fade, some redefine; some create their own form. The background becomes the foreground and the foreground merges into the background with some brushworks floating above the surface, some sinking below. This conscious and unconscious act of layering creates a depth of water, as well as the surface of the water, that reflects its imagined, unknown world above.

 As we know, water is a source of life, renewal, healing, change and reconciliation. It echos an intimate reflection of one’s own inner being. My paintings reunite me with many happy memories of being by the water. It becomes a metaphor for my inner peace and reconciliation. I constantly strive to express the natural beauty and what is yet to be seen.