Kuan-Tung Ho

My research is all about matters relating to the public and particularly concerns how people resist society. My broad topics are how people understand resistance and how resistance has broken its previous promises. Avant-garde thinking also asks many of the questions that I do, and the Situationists had great examples and practices that dealt with the same concerns. Not only did the Situationists present many critiques of Dadaism and Surrealism countering the previous generation of avant-garde artists, they also created some strategies responding to art and avant-garde artists though détournement, drift and psychogeography. 

The significant learning from my research is the realisation that ‘the everyday’ is the key that I have to concentrate on. I tend to view my research as a supporting platform, and I do not want it to dominate my outcomes. Contrasting my research into public and social aspects, I hope that my displayed works show my personal and intimate insights that are supported by research and concern the issues I care about in the political climate. As I seek to comprehend these issues, I have found that the more I draw, the more my thinking process is helped. 

Working with various everyday material from tangible stuff to intangible information, I make subtle observations of everyday life and attempt to simultaneously maintain an experimental quality in my works.The way I respond to my daily life is by making pictures and drawings. Process drawing is like writing a diary. It is a good way of thinking about ‘now’ and time passing. I practice my drawing when I feel I need to draw and when I have a deep desire to make a picture! This is like people taking photos and making digital collages on Instagram or in albums. 

A deep desire to make pictures is common, as people often feel a compulsion to record a particular moment. For example, children may make drawings, young people may take selfies and elderly individuals may hold on to their memories via photos. Most of the time I think and look before making a drawing. Drawing helps me relax and explore myself and art theories, especially the connection between drawing, self-expression and figurative forms. This pushes me to face the most honest moments of my thinking and also embodies what I believe is important and can be learned from my SI research.  

Some people might say picture-making practices are not a big deal. However, I would say that this endeavour cannot be considered an easy one. The way in which thought and temperament are embodied in a brush stroke on a surface when making a picture is an intense experience. It is challenging for me to bring everything together and then separate it all into multiple pieces. Making a fine drawing requires me to handle structure/light, colour, speed of drawing and materials. Failure is possible as I have to keep thinking to ensure I avoid over-drawing, but I also must concentrate on looking and the passing of time.