Paintings by Maisie Luo
New Jersey-based artist Maisie Luo’s stunning meditations on ecology, interconnectedness, and destruction.
Artist Statement:
I wonder about the resources, energy, and lives required to make the things I eat and use in everyday life. For example, what does it take to get earth minerals to produce my phone? The production and distribution stages of everyday items are usually hidden from the consumers. Moreover, these processes often exploit animals and natural resources. With paintings, sculptures, and animations, I combine my observation and imagination to render hidden scenes in the systems of consumption. I invite people to become aware of what is required to sustain a Capitalist-influenced modern lifestyle.
I am influenced by Buddhist teachings and stories about the role of humans on earth. One story that continues to inspire my practice goes like this: There is a blind turtle who continuously swims up and down the vast ocean. On top of the ocean floats a yoke. The rare chance of the turtle’s head going through the yoke is like the chance of being a human in this lifetime. I continue to reflect on my role as an artist and a human in the current world.
As I paint, I negotiate a tension between depicting the ongoing exploitation of the earth and the joy of painting. I explore how the materiality of paint can sustain people’s attention to the depicted content. In addition to raising awareness of the ongoing exploitation of animals and the environment, I also envision a world in which animals and nature have more agency and are no longer being exploited by humans. It is the hope that the visuals I put out into the world will sow the seeds of a more sustainable and compassionate future.
Maisie Luo is currently finishing a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Rutgers University. She makes paintings, animations, and sculptures about the impact of current systems of consumption on animals and the environment. In addition to her art practice, she also writes about the ethics of attention in aesthetic experiences. Luo holds a Master of Theological Studies degree in Religion and Ethics from Harvard Divinity School and an honors BA degree in Studio Art and Religion from Swarthmore College.
Salmon Pen, 2023. 60 x 66 x 1 inches. Oil on canvas over wood
Ocean Veins, in the Kelp Forest, Medusas' Appetite, Deep Sea, Breach Above, 2024. 36 x77 x23.5 inches. Acrylic paint, wood, clay, and resin.
Cargo Ship, 2023. 18 x 3 feet. Acrylic on wood.
Detail of Cargo Ship.
Bottled Water, 2023-ongoing. 8 x 10 inches each. Acrylic on panel.
I collect discarded single-used plastic water bottles from different brands and paint them from observation. The process has allowed me to learn about the absurd advertising language on the bottles that companies use to allude to nature. I meditate on the brands’ association with different social classes, as well as who has access to clean water in the US. I also meditate on the tension between the pleasure of painting, my use of plastic-based paint, and the unfortunate reality of the amount of plastic we have on earth.
Detail of Bottled Water.
Negotiation, 2023. 72 x 12 inches. Oil on canvas.
Inspired by the salmon escape incident in Patreksfjörður, Iceland in September 2023, I portray an encounter between a farmed salmon and a wild salmon. I wonder how they would interact with each other when meeting in the ocean.
