Artist Spotlight: Odelia Wong
- visualvokeart
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Meet the Artist: Odelia Wong
Is art supposed to be grand and beautiful? Depends on what you think ‘art’ is. For me? I love it when my works can interact with my audience in an intimate way, give them the feels and show them new insights.
My name is Odelia. I am a 19-year-old year 1 university undergraduate in Hong Kong studying Art History and (maybe) Cultural and Media Studies. I have always found myself close to art since childhood, using all sorts of art supplies at home to realise my ideas. However, as I grew up, I discovered art is so much more. I think the best art is making you have a visceral reaction to it, emotions so strong that you can’t help but reject it but also be drawn to it. My art plays on the properties of materials to create a memorable piece that allows the audience to interact with and remember it well through tactile and visual means.
Most of my work can be held with your own two hands. You could flip it, move it, touch it. They are also very craft heavy as I think it expresses some sort of warmth that permeates through as one engages with the work. It shows how an artist processes their materials; leaving their marks on how much time and effort is put into a piece of work. Embroidery threads, fabrics, and vibrant colours characterise my art, since I find the use of different colours and objects an effective means to translate ideas and thoughts that painting is less effective in doing so. What ideas and thoughts you may ask… Well, I think the physicality and original functions of objects could allow people to associate with their intended properties better than painted ones (like wooden frames are for framing important things). Then, I could utilise or subvert this object’s ‘nature’ to my own intentions; I find it really fun and intuitive for me to be honest.
I believe art should come from something personal or something you care about deeply. And in these works I created when I was 17–18, like every angsty teenager (which I probably still am), I am in search for the answer to the existential question of “Who am I?” In these works, I have tackled and processed the major aspects that I think made me who I am today. (E.g. School, family, Hong Kong culture etc.) Did I find the answer? No. But did I learn something more about myself from the art making process to organise my thoughts? Definitely. That is why art is crucial for me. You try to put a part of you in it and, in turn, you discover something new in the process that changes how you were.
Of course, art making is no easy process and one will get sleepless nights and endless frustration from it. I have had my fair share of that, and it makes you want to give up sometimes. (Source: Trust me bro) But once you have mixed that shade you wanted, the form that you envisioned, and the reaction you wanted others to have. There is such a sense of fulfilment that you can’t help but think: It’s all worth it.
Lastly, some promotion over here, but get to know some art history along your art journey. Plenty of crazy drama there and you could learn a lot from art in ancient times, contemporary artists, and everything in between. Now go make some art ;)
Check out @odelia._.0128 on Instagram for more!
Comments