My paintings are concerned with what happens when different “selves” encounter one another: how they see each other, how they conflict and choose, what ultimately becomes me, and what does not.

I have lived through many selves: the self others expected and shaped, the self I expected and shaped; the actual self and the ideal self; the chosen self and the unchosen self; the accepted self, as well as the suppressed and abandoned selves. These different selves do not exist only within me. They are connected to a profession, a city, a relationship, a belief, an identity, or a way of being. As these things emerge, change, and disappear, I continually see and choose myself anew.

I use oil painting to preserve these lived experiences that once existed. I work directly on canvas without determining the final image in advance. Colors and forms are built, covered, erased, and reshaped through the process of painting. Figures sometimes emerge gradually from color, only to be obscured or swallowed by another form. I often do not truly see what is happening within a painting until it is nearly complete.

For me, every painting contains a death and a birth.

In this way, I care deeply for myself.

I also hope that when viewers stand before my paintings, whether they encounter a form or something that cannot be named, they can stay there for a moment.

I hope they can feel cared for.

Instagram: @qinaus_