Do You See Me?

Website

http://www.troygua.com

Relationship status

married

Member type

Artist

If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?

Conceptual, Digital, Drawing, Installation, Painting, Photography, Sculpture

I am...

I will be...I was born in Seattle and had a nice childhood during which I fell in love with art. I then grew up, made good choices as well as bad ones, felt joy as well as pain, and continued my love affair with art. At long last, I met Catherine, fell in love with her and made her my wife, and the three of us currently share a wonderful life together.

About my artwork

I am a child of 1970's and 1980's America. I did Elvis impersonations for my parents' friends on the hearth. I dressed as Elton John for Halloween, complete with a custom-made satin jumpsuit. I saw every Star Wars movie on opening day. I discovered why girls were different than boys when I saw Olivia Newton John on the big screen in Grease. I never missed an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. I cried with my big sister the day John Lennon died.

I grew up with Ronald McDonald and Ronald Reagan, King Tut and the King of Pop; images and icons that have been burned into my subconscious. Rock stars, advertising, packaging, Hollywood, science fiction, fast food, the sit-com, and now, the internet, Photoshop, Facebook, iPods, reality tv and the instant plastic hereafter. Popular American culture is shaping my life, and is a vital component of my creative process.

Beginning as hyper-graphic iconic pop imagery painted with a precise hand and often mistaken for screen prints or stencils, my work's scope is expanding. I am embracing the use of new materials and technologies to produce an aesthetic inspired by, and aspiring to, a marriage of human ability and digital perfection.

Often resin-coated and highly lustrous, my work is reflective, both literally and metaphorically. It implies the reflection of popular culture, my fascination with it and my desire to become part of it. It suggests the slickly wrapped bits and bytes of information our modern world is continuously fed through our growing assemblage of media. It refers to what we choose to see and what we choose to show.

Fashioned with levity and wrapped in a tight, glossy package, my work is premeditated and meticulously designed. It encourages closer investigation. It asks you to think and it asks you to laugh…or at least crack a smile.

Centre of the artworld:

my studio, online, nowhere and everywhere