Josie Chu-Artist

Josie Chu MFA BFA
Canadian Contemporary Mixed Media Artist.
Materials: Photography, Wood, Colored Flock, Adhesive

I am a mother, photographer, sculpture, artist, teacher, thinker, designer social media blogger. I come from a background in photography and sculpture and my work takes it’s initial inspiration from aesthetic space.

Over the last 15 years, I have been sporadically collecting miscellaneous images captured in between freelance jobs. In the most recent years, I’ve been focusing on the juxtaposition of photos with digital image overlays, assemblage and textural materials. I incorporate a variety of textured materials, metallic photo paper, found objects, resin and flocking fibers. The colored, fibrous flocking material is incorporated as a pattern onto the printed digital photograph. The overlay of patterns and soft contours create another dimension of what I see.

My art practice incorporates two-dimensional imagery with a sculptural element. The subtle play of switching back and forth between photographic images and textures excites me as the evolving depth rises from a flat photograph. The visual push and pull mimics my own perception of oneself. I am a mixture, a cultural hybrid from Asian descent, planted in a multicultural habitat. My inherited Asian qualities are visually distinctive and at a glance, I am a stereotypical portrayal of what a middle aged Chinese woman should appear to be. However my westernized influence presents itself once the initial impression dissipates. The tangled viewpoint changes as the small snippets of westernized culture surfaces just as the viewpoint of my photograph changes with the subtle textural overlay. To conform and embrace only one element of the outer shell is not how I see myself. There is a desire to show the other dimensions. Do they stick out enough to mask the physical appearance? Is it significant and representational of my true self? My answers lie in the entanglement of layers of imagery and the collaboration of how the patterns work together to represent the self only I see as I construct them in my studio.

My recent work consists of photographic imagery layered and built up with textures, resin, found objects and coloured flocking. The appearance is soft and subtle, precious and delicate. The significance of the flock is reminiscent of objects beautified in my child memories. These objects belong to the western world. I remember the pretty and precious flocked ornaments and jewelry boxes that were soft in texture. The softness would lure you in and the desire to run your fingers through the fibers felt prohibited; not typical of what you would expect from a photograph.