Rowan Huang

Year of birth: 2004
Where do you live: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Your education: Brock University: Third year university, expected graduating 2026.
Rick Hansen Secondary School: High School Diploma
Describe your art in three words: Bold, reflective, colourful
Your discipline: Specializing in painting, but also disciplined in film photography, collage, drawing
Instagram

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your recent works? How do you merge Chinese techniques like ink work with contemporary styles in your paintings?

A lot of my recent works like Waiting (2023), have been projects for my classes at Brock University. I try to elevate some projects by incorporating touches of Chinese aesthetics, brush strokes, and palettes. My projects have explored the human experience and others dove into affronting themes like censorship and sex. With some of my earlier work, like ROTK (2021), I explored the use of black paint to create forms and linework, which although was unpolished technique, still made me feel connected to that side of my culture. Chinese art is very photographic and bold, and in a way, similar to 20th century pop art with ink strokes drawing out scenes with a simple colour palette. This is similar to my practice of pulling forms out of clumps of colour and allowing the piece to emerge as I go.

Your work often explores themes of human nature and self-reflection. How do you feel these themes allow for an intimate interaction between the artist, the work, and the viewer?

My intention with some of my work is to cause deep reflection for the viewer. Themes like love, sex, gender roles, the “gaze”, and nudity are topics that often cause disgust and shame, and a question I ask the viewer is why we censor and detest common human experiences? I feel as though we as people do not want to admit certain things about, as we have been taught to feel shame and embarrassment for certain aspects of our lives. When my art creates that reflection on the world, I feel as though I am challenging people’s perspectives. I also find a lot of fun and fulfillment in shocking people with provocative and controversial themes. I feel art is its most successful when it creates discourse, as art should be sparking conversations about life and perceptions of it. When people connect to my art, whether negative or positive, I’m glad there’s an interaction between my creations and the viewer.

Rowan Huang | ARTPOP | 2024

You mentioned in your artist statement that you draw heavily from pop and abstract art. Could you elaborate on how these influences shape your creative process and the narratives you choose to explore?

Artists like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Hajime Sorayama have greatly influenced my aesthetic. I find their works satisfying to my eyes, by using bold colours and pleasing compositions. From a stylistic standpoint, Warhol and Basquiat have been translated into many of my pieces with vibrant colours and free-flowing brush strokes flooding my canvas. Sorayama’s pieces on sexuality and nudity have also been inspiring to me, as the human body-and everything we do with them, is something we should celebrate and be shameless about. I gravitate towards abstract art because of the need of interpretation and importance of looking at it. Although other forms of art are always intriguing, abstract and contemporary art is, for lack of a better word, very cool. I enjoy when people tell me what they see in my abstract work, and everyone can have their own relationship with my art, because sometimes people point out things in my work that I haven’t noticed or even intended on creating. These unique analyses are very special to me.

How does your education at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts inform your artistic practice, and how do you see it evolving as you continue your studies?

My time at the MIWSFPA has been the most fulfilling experience of my life, I have learned so much about art and myself. The way I work and think has evolved to another level and I feel an intense creative flow when I’m on campus. Working alongside link-minded peers has been such a breath of fresh air, as I never experienced an artistic community in high school. One thing I’ve realized, is that going to art school is about learning to think and adapt, rather than learning how to hold a pencil properly. Things like learning how to use constructive criticism to my advantage, rather than taking offense to it, has allowed me to make some of the best art of my career up to this point. Also, being on a campus dedicated solely to art allows me to collaborate with incredibly talented people who create beautiful art. University has also forced me to explore new areas and mediums that I never would have ventured into, like collage, video art, and installation work. The MIWSFPA has given me opportunity to share my work in exhibits and make long lasting connections, and makes me excited for my final academic year in 2025-2026.

Rowan Huang | Head Back | 2024

You’ve been involved in both public exhibitions and commission work. Can you tell us about your experience working on a commission for CAA Insurance and how it differs from creating pieces for exhibitions?

The CAA Insurance Niagara mural commission work definitely tested me and my good friend, Neeka DeVries’ ability to adapt to the wishes of a large company. Our art department often sends out open calls to art students, and I reached out to Neeka to see if she’d want to collaborate on this together. And to our surprise, our submission was accepted. Over the course of about 6 months, we took CAA Niagara’s feedback and kept drafting designs. The piece was to encapsulate the office’s 150,000+ regional members, the community, and services of CAA. Eventually, the mural transformed into merchandising for the office team, and our final design was a success. Me and my colleague agreed it was a rocky ride, but well worth it for the experience. We learned that although we as artists know how to envision the final outcome of a piece without having a “final” draft, a corporate body may need a more concrete, polished work. It definitely has a different work flow compared to submitting for an exhibition. With the commission, we found we wanted to go with our designs, instead of CAA’s feedback. Whereas exhibits are open to the artist’s ideas. I’m still very thankful for the opportunity, as my first ever commission work was for a company as huge as CAA Insurance.

As an emerging artist, you’re focused on pushing yourself to evolve. What are some of the challenges you face in your practice, and how do you overcome them?

As an emerging artist, I find myself concerned about my future and if I can actually make a living off of my art. Being an emerging artist gives little job security and a lot of fear of not finding opportunities. The big dream is to make, sell and exhibit art around the world, and not knowing the steps to get to that point definitely creates doubt within me. Aside from the business/financial aspect of art, I notice that I try to “resurrect” my old art. By that, I mean trying to get back into that free, unconcerned mindset when I am working on a piece. When I first started taking art seriously in high school, I made some of my best work, as I was not concerned with technique or the final outcome, and I trusted myself. Whereas now, I find myself overthinking what I do because I’ll have a clear vision in my head of the final product, and I end up hyper fixating on the small things. But in the past year, I’ve found myself finding beauty in the “mistakes” and realizing everything that doesn’t go as planned is a sort of time capsule of that point in my life. Change is a scary thing for me, so the next step is to break away from that doubt, and in a way, be more spiritual and trusting the flow of energy and let it guide my life. I believe the more you let go, you will feel free and evolve in beautiful ways.

Rowan Huang | ROTK

How do you see the role of color and line work in your paintings? What does color mean to you, and how does it communicate within your work?

Colour is important to be because I find so much emotion and association within the entire spectrum. I find satisfaction and a sort of relief when the right hues blend together. I’m also fascinated by line work and how it can be the work, and not just a part of it. I realize my enjoyment of line and colour correlates to my interest in pop art, as artist like Warhol created such captivating blends of vibrant hues with blotchy black lines. Colour to me, represents the artist and what they were feeling in that space of creation. I associate colours with emotions and ambience, such as orange (my favourite colour) evoking a sense of warmth and calmness, but being intense and passionate. My work often reflects my emotional state with colours being a physical representation of my flow of consciousness. My gravitation towards colour also relates to photographic practices and movies, and interestingly, my work is conceptualized as a photo before it is translated onto canvas. Films like La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, and Asteroid City utilize colour in unique and beautiful ways, and I find myself making art with those techniques in mind.

Rowan Huang | Mannequins | 2021