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Winter 2023: Nathan Casey

Bio:

Early in my life art was not a main focus or something I was really interested in but in 8th grade, I fell in love with drawing during classes I didn't enjoy. The idea of entertaining myself with just a blank piece of paper and a pen anywhere anytime was liberating. In high school, I took art classes all four years and got the chance to develop my skills in my junior year during the covid lockdown. The lockdown presented lots of time to reflect on my life specifically my racial identity as a Chinese/White man. During this time I read "The Arts of China" by Michael Sullivian, a textbook on Chinese art. After educating myself on such artistic achievements found myself much more prideful. Most of my work incorporates components of East Asian illustration which is my way of taking pride in my Chinese ethnicity after trying to suppress it as a kid growing up in a majority-white town.

Artist Statement:

This body of work mostly comes from my AP art portfolio which focused on self-portraiture. I challenged myself to not only represent myself naturalistically but also include commentary on the navigation of my racial identity while still designing a piece that was visually striking. For this series, I draw pictorial inspiration from East Asian illustration, Japanese tattoo imagery, and portrait painters, namely American painter John Singer Sargent and Swedish painter Anders Zorn. I'd like my work to represent Asian American excellence in the hopes that others can take pride in it as well. Going forward, I'd like to move away from depicting myself and start making pieces revolving around the diaspora of Asian America.