Interview with Ai-Wen Wu Kratz — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

I am of Chinese origin. I came from Hong Kong to the U.S. for college education. I received my BFA degree from Fort Wright College, Spokane, WA and my MFA degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hill, MI. Along the way, I attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture.
In my immediate and extended families, there are painters, calligraphers and mathematicians. My father honored education and integrity. A distant uncle of mine is a recognized calligrapher in China. It is said that his calligraphy scrolls are prohibited from leaving China to this day.
Georgia O’Keeffe said her “first memory is of the brightness of light”. From the beginning of my existence, as told by family elders, I avoided vulgarity. It was said that I have a natural inclination for aesthetics.

My parents had six children. I am one of the younger three. I caused no problem in school and at home, so I was pretty much left alone to my fascination with dolls. I started with drawing and cutting paper dolls to sewing for the one and only one real doll I had. I often kept little things around me as collectibles to make furniture for my doll. One day, I was brought to fame in my high school for having made a full set of cloth puppets for a puppet show in school. This marked the beginning of my successful engagement in creativity.

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us how you started in the arts? and your first experience in art making?

I credit my first success in art making to my puppet creation, as noted above. To the question on how I started in the arts, I should like to share a giggle. In 2014, my husband and I moved to a new house. In one of the boxes that we opened only two years later, we found a bound folder, which had essays written by a class of 5th graders at Haycock Elementary School, McLean, VA. The following page, without alteration, was by our son. He is now fully grown: The essay is titled: “How My Mother Became An Artist”
“My mother came from a family of six children. The members of her mother’s
family were all interested in Painting and Calligraphy. One of her uncles was famous for his calligraphy in China. As a child, my mother did not know she would become a painter, but she liked art and drew very well. She drew so well that her art teacher sent her to represent her school in a competition, where she won the second prize.
She was shy and did not tell her parents how good she was. Her parents only knew that she was a good student and did not worry much about her. Her two younger brothers went to the same school as my mother. Her art teacher told her brothers how good my mother was. They then told her parents. But they still didn’t really care.
One day my mother’s uncle saw my mother draw. He was very surprised. He was so impressed that he told my mother’s mother how well my mother could draw human hands. Only then was she sent to study watercolors with a private tutor. She won a scholarship to come to the United States and go to college.
She liked biology, mathematics and art, so she had a hard time choosing what she wanted to be. She decided to become an artist. She went to school free, because she was on honor roll. She became a professor, but now is a full time painter.”

How would you describe yourself and your artwork?

Very recently, I attended a service at a church of Lutheran faith with my family, while I am a Catholic by faith. At the service, there was a line projected on a screen: WE MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING. I am still touched by it. I should like to change it to, “To Make A Road By Walking.” For I believe betterment is achieved by will and by efforts.
Another belief of mine, for instance, European Union was formed on the belief that “peace and prosperity are best achieved by opening borders and deepening integration.” I often find the principles upheld in a grand scope can be applied to personal practices as well. Aiming at making peace and extending respect and good will … would yield strength and positivity in relations.
By training and in practices, I am a painter. My works are two dimensional, rectangular or shaped. My drawings are figurative, while my paintings are non-objective. As I work along, I find correlations between visual arts and writing. The interplay of elements in the visual art, with colors, lines, planes, and relations thereof and therein, is like that of words / phrases in sound and rhythm in a poem, so to capture what goes beyond narration and depiction. The viewer and the reader, in turn, project a reality of their own. The projection multiplies as per individual perception, level of exposure, and state of mind and emotions. As a result, it generates a greater circle of creativity.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Visual phenomena, natural or manmade, that present awe in scales or in forms are among things that inspire me. Contemporary stage design, classical music, choreographic lines in dance, the marvel of vocal art, literature, opera lyrics and nature itself are sources of inspiration for me. On performing arts, for example, productions from the Nederland Dans Theatre and from the National Ballet Company of Canada are absolutely and stunningly inspiring. Travels, exposures and be open to all other fields would enrich oneself enormously; hence, to art making, definitely.

What emotions do you hope the viewers experience when looking at your art?

In contrary to Ellsworth Kelly, who disdained having paintings hung in households and offices, I make it my goal to bring my paintings into living and working spaces. I would find it fulfilling if my works can quench daily weariness and thirst, like what the legendary Molly Pitcher'did for soldiers and artillerymen during the revolutionary war. My works convey no angst and bear no specific messages. With the hope that art can heal and redirect, I aim at conveying joy, aesthetics, spirituality and intellectualism.

To invite the public, I wrote:
"Come to us, the visual artists, dancers, poets, writers, playwrights, musicians and story tellers. Together, we will form a shade to shelter you from the heat and weariness of life. Together in this sanctuary, we shall hear the birds' happy mating, share the breeze of renewal and bathe in the warmth of the fragrant earth."
I would be thrilled if my works can make a difference, particularly, to individuals who grew up from broken families. I want to see that my works are contributory to humanity.

When do you know that an artwork is finished ?

Cezanne said when a painting is in progress, it should look that it has arrived at a stage when a stop comes at any given time. It is to say that we should have an overall attention to the wholeness of the work at any given time. Not to work in such a way that only one part is completed while other parts have not yet begun. On the completion of a works,
I found absolute truth in the following words of Cezanne:
“I have to keep working, not to arrive at finish, which arouses the admiration of fools... I must seek completion only for the pleasure of being truer and more knowing, when I arrive at what I want to see and to say.”

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What has been the most exciting moment in your art career so far?

- To be accepted for representation by a reputable gallery.

-- To receive an excellent review on my exhibition.

-- To have brought a work to completion.

-- To have sold a major work.

How long does it take to produce one work?

It depends on the size and the techniques chosen. The shortest time I had with a medium size work was 18 full days. The longest I took for a large work was six months, full time, six to seven days a week and over
eight hours a day with stops.What exciting projects are you working on right now?I now must resume to work on a nearly completed painting from the year before. In 2020, I plan to work on three large paintings. I had conceived the idea in 2010, while I was waiting at the airport on my way home after the opening of an exhibition at Latino Art Museum in Pomona, CA.

Do you have any upcoming events or exhibitions we should know about?

In November 2020. I shall participate in a group exhibition in Madrid, Spain. It is curated by Paola Trevisan, Trevisan International Art. In October 2020, I will be in a group exhibition at Agora Gallery, NYC, New York. This is the beginning of 2020, I have no doubt that there will be other exhibition opportunities. In 2019, I was in the following exhibitions:
• 2019 March 29 - April 1 / 2019 Harbour Art Fair Hong Kong / Hong Kong, China
• 2019 April 5 - 7 / 2019 ArtExpo NYC / New York, NY
• 2019 March 30 - April 11 / "Little Treasure 2019" / Curated by Paola Trevisan International at Galleria De Marchi, Bologna, Italy
• 2019 "Touring the World through Art"/ Contest for large scale works / www.enter-into-art.com / Bonn-Königswinter, Germany
• 2019 April 17 - 28 / Exhibition to Promote Smaller Scale Works /www.enter-into-art.com / Cultural Center Cologne-Mülheim, Germany
• 2019 May 8 - May 26 | One-Person | The Artifact Gallery, New York, NY
• 2019 June 1 -16 / Group / ALETHEIA / Villa Monastero Varenna Contemporary Art / Varenna, Lecco, Italy
• 2019 July 25 - September 20 /Group / “Consciousness” / ANIMA MUNDI International Art Festival / THE ROOM Contemporary Art Space, Venice, Italy.
• 2019 October 4 - November 24 / Group / “Visions” / AMIMA MUNDI International Art Festival / Palazzo Ca”Zanardi, Venice, Italy.
• 2019 August 24 - September 14 / Collective Exhibition / Agora Gallery, New York, NY
• 2019 September 25 - 28 / Monaco Yacht Show / Group / Quai Antoine 1er, Monaco,
• 2019 September 28 - October 12 / “Iperuranio” / Group / Ottovolarte, laboratorio e atelier, Florence, Italy.
• 2019 September 27 - October 25 / London Contemporary / Group /THE LINE
Contemporary Art Space, Mercato Metropolitano, London, UK
• 2019 December 5 - 2010 January 20 Contemporary Venice / Group / Palazzo Ca’ Zanardi, Venice, Italy.