Serene Chan is a very talented artist that we have the pleasure of featuring. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Serene! Thank you for granting the interview. You have an amazing portfolio. You started out as an accountant, but the passion to express yourself creatively was always simmering. What inspired you to take that leap of faith and become an artist?
Hi Occhi! Thank you so much for having me.
I’ve grown to enjoy suits and playing with numbers over the years, but I always had dreams of opening my own art studio or store. Art was something that I was always passionate about but put on the back burner because I felt the need to wait until “the right time” to pursue it. This referred to the moment I obtain a stable career, steady flow of income or when I find the time to do it. I was on the road to perpetual procrastination until I met a friend who created businesses out of nothing and found ways to do what he loved in unconventional ways. He saw no such thing as a limitation and accomplished plentifully not because he had his life together before everyone else, but because he was self-motivated.
Seeing this made me realize that I was feeding myself every excuse in the book to compensate my lack of direction. Realistically, future Serene 30 years from now, who would have her “life figured out”, would probably use the same excuses (or use new ones) for why it’s not the “right time”. This realization inspired me to formulate a direction for my dreams. I made a plan of what I needed and did my research. I made connections with people doing better than me and obtained information on how to make this idea into a reality. That was the start of Serene Illustrations!
Who and what have your biggest influences and why?
I was a horribly shy kid and had trouble talking to people of all ages throughout my childhood. Since I didn’t really have friends to play with growing up, I spent a lot of time in my head and happily drowned myself in storybooks. It cultivated a very active and wild imagination that encouraged frequent fantasies of going on adventures in different realities. When I looked out my bedroom window, I often saw gremlins walking on rooftops or fairies swinging on tree leaves. I remember spending countless hours gathering vital ingredients in my grandparents’ backyard to create potions that would later aid me in my battles with imaginary villains.
As I grew it became no surprise that words weren’t my strong suit, so thoughts that resided in my head were difficult to articulate. I found myself constantly wandering back to these worlds I built for myself when I was I a kid, and that translated in my art. When I started going to business school and entered the corporate environment, that urgency to escape to somewhere extraordinary became even more prominent. This is why a common focus of my paintings revolves around escape; it’s an opportunity to explore a different life, remember a childhood past or take a break from a difficult reality. These other worlds are my perfect safe place.
How have you developed your own personal illustration style?
Like many who took rudimentary art classes as an elective in high school, I started off learning very basic concepts of life drawing/painting, such as drawing a cup on a table. Although I knew the necessity of learning the art foundations, I always hated being told to draw something so boring. All I wanted to do was to smash the cup against a wall and draw the broken pieces instead.
I always loved things that appeared a little absurd or damaged, and hints of this are found in my earlier paintings when I primarily focused on landscape paintings. As the years went by, I stumbled across surrealism, such as works by Salvador Dalí. Falling in love with art that defied physical rules and the idea of a different reality, I moved out of the traditional landscape and into a fairytale dreamscape. I’m often inspired by vibrant colors and detailed imagery, which is why some of my pieces look like, what I like to call, “rainbow vomit”.
Why did you choose illustrative art?
I choose illustration because it’s like photography. It has the ability to capture a moment or a feeling in time and capsule it forever. However, the difference between illustrative art and photography is that photos capture reality while illustrations capture memories; memories that are perfectly constructed to the way the mind sees it. It doesn’t matter whether the memory is real or true. That stories fabricated are mine and it just makes sense.
Painting surreal fantasy worlds is a common theme in most of your paintings. Why did you choose surrealism?
Painting surreal fantasy worlds became a common theme in my paintings because it means to escape a world that’s difficult to articulate, full of anxiety and worry. Surrealism is a great outlet for exposing my inner thoughts in a whimsical and symbolic way. I like how forgiving the style is; there are no rules on how or why things should be painted. Just the word “surrealist” implies something that is beyond reality, encouraging me to depict my dream world, believe that magic is real and trust that the unnoticed will become noticed.
If you could paint/illustrate live in any location, where would it be and why?
Oh, how fun! Perhaps in a hot air balloon flying over Turkey or Switzerland? I think the view would be just so unreal. I would love to see what the birds see, and be in arm’s length with a cloud. Although, I’m not sure how successful my painting would turn out if my knees start buckling from a fear of heights and experiencing vertigo. I might as well choose the most extreme option if I get the choice of “any location”! If anyone would like to fund my next vacation, I’ll start a GoFundMe page.
You continuously hone your craft. What keeps you inspired?
I see art as not only an outlet for my deepest thoughts, but it’s an opportunity to learn. The world is an explosion of information. There’s an endless pool of new styles, mediums and techniques to try, and billions of different people to learn from. I’m inspired by the knowledge that I am a gazillion light years away from where I want to be. As satisfied as I seem to be with my finished art pieces, I know I am capable of doing better. I’m just a small potato in this gigantic universe full of experts who are also continually learning how to improve. Knowing this is exhilarating because this just means I’ll never stop learning.
Do you have any upcoming projects that we haven’t mentioned?
I will be having a solo show at Artusiasm starting on June 15th, 2018 called “Secret Escape”, where my original works revolving around escapism will be displayed for a period of time. I’ll also be a featured artist in a web series with Artist Unknown on YouTube, where I will be talking about my inspiration and story behind one of my paintings, “Introvert’s Paradise”. I’d love for people to check both of those out!
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