East Gallery
Byron Shen
Passages
June 11 thru August 12, 2007
In Oklahoma Artist Byron Shen’s exhibit of abstract art entitled “Passages,” he examines places that are to be traveled internally and considers his paintings as abstract emotional and spiritual landscapes.
“In many of them, it is where the horizon is far away and it is the journey that becomes most significant and not the destination. During the creation of art, an artist strives for personal growth and identity. That form of self-expression is the driving force behind my painting process, which is a very intuitive one.”
English novelist George Gissing (1857 - 1903) once wrote, “It is the mind which creates the world about us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.”
This is not true for Byron Shen, for he is able through his work, to convey to us a visual description of an emotion or experience that has touched his heart. It is then up to us whether to receive it. If we do, we can then say to Shen, our hearts have stirred “to the emotions with which yours is touched” … even if only at a shallow depth.
Each element of Shen’s work, as in other abstract artists, is known. Color, line, shape, shadow and texture are known as elements of everyday life. These elements, like the pieces of an orchestra, can be scored to elicit a purely emotional response. Shen, like a great conductor, builds a symphony of color and light through layered brush strokes, rich color and subtle textures to describe his emotional state at the time of a work’s creation. In viewing Shen’s works, one is allowed to share in the experience much like listening to a piece of music.
Even though Shen’s subjects are not tied to a specific place or scenario, his use of a strong horizon line invokes a kind of open landscape that allows the viewer to occupy a space constructed by feeling and memory.
Shen describes most of his work as “highly abstract in form but sometimes it can have a literal element, mostly in the form of a landscape (horizon lines, sky, land and sea). Hopefully, my work hints at what might be and in these translations of particular sojourns the viewer might recall their own passages that they have taken thus giving way towards a dialogue with the work.”
Born in Hong Kong in 1963, Shen came to the United States at the age of four. His mother is a commercial artist and he was involved with the arts at an early age. “While I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing, I find abstract art to be a function of visual thinking for which I employ a different vocabulary,” said Shen. “I feel that abstract art could be considered an extension of creative writing.”
He earned his MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It was there Shen developed his style of painting and installation work. He resides in Skiatook, Oklahoma, and is Head of the Visual Arts Department and Holliman Gallery Coordinator for Holland Hall School, Tulsa.
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council. For more information contact Scott Cowan at 405.521.2931 or scott@arts.ok.gov.
The East Gallery is located on the 1st floor of the State Capitol and open daily from 8:00-5:30.