Jamie Ho
I’ve always found energy an indescribable and inarticulable
substance. When transported from one being to another, it
gets distorted and loses its vigour. However, while words fall
short, visuals have the capacity to enhance and overwhelm.
In my work, I explore energy through both crowds and
intimacy, through movement, emotion, colour, texture
and line.
Inspired by artists like Fang Li Jun, Robert Longo, Alison
Lambert, Kenne Grégoire and Romare Bearden, I seek out
charged and bold mediums – primarily oil, charcoal, etching,
monoprints, lino, lithography and photomontage – whose
either visceral or graphic qualities help translate different
forms of energy. I imbue crowd scenes with the sense of
an invitation to intimacy and mystery by personalising
and singling out subjects. Sometimes they look straight
at the viewer, other times they take the form of distant
but defined silhouettes in a dizzying sea of reflection and
movement. In close-up portraits, intensity of emotion
is expressed through dynamic strokes and reconsidered
perspectives. Raised a Buddhist-Taoist, my work also
includes scenes of religious devotion. By taking on a
distinctively traditional yet celebratory context, I hope to
find the beauty, promise and spiritual energy of faith.