Meet Shawn Xiao | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shawn Xiao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shawn, what’s the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make?
The most difficult decision I have ever made would be changing my career path. I was interning at an investment firm as an assistant after finishing my bachelors in business. After several months of working long hours on very boring and repetitive work that did not rely on any of my skills I got worn down. I felt lost and unable to see the path forward. I was feeling very much unmotivated about everything, like I had lost my passion for life. At this point I realized I needed to make a change. Creativity is at my core. I have been making art since I was a young child, and I had always viewed it as a meditative practice. When I was making art, I wasn’t stressed about the future or frustrated with the present, I was completely enveloped in the work. I realized that I am not able to separate myself from the work that I am doing all day, and that I needed a way to combine my job with my interests.
 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am deeply interested in consciousness. What is it exactly? How can it be visualized? What is the process through which it is formed? What has shaped my mind and made me the person I am today?
In my studio practice, I am working with mixed media sculpture and installations in an ongoing journey of reflection on these questions. The central bodies of my recent sculptures are made from semi-organic accumulations of insulation foam. They capture a moment of my mind frozen in time. A frame from a stop-motion animation showing a single moment of my life. Within the sculptures, traces of familiar objects; limbs and layers of odd shaped foam, symbolize my memories.
These objects are in the process of disintegrating, eventually merging completely with my mind. Memories, once clear and distinctive, dissolve into the negative space between the structures. This space between is my mind, the environment in which all of my life takes place. Ultimately, my installations serve as a mirror, to reflect the intricate dance of life in all its beauty, its sorrow, and its fleeting temporality. In the space of my installations, I become an audience of my consciousness, observing how my experiences bloom and fade away.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In NYC, start with iconic sights like the Statue of Liberty and a Broadway show. check out some of the museums like the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. And then there are Brooklyn Heights and dine in Williamsburg. Relax in Central Park and shop on Fifth Avenue. Maybe grab a brunch in the West Village and a scenic boat ride around Manhattan.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
well, first of the support from my parents that allow me to study abroad. During my MFA fine arts program, I’ve met a lot of talented people that helped me though out two years with my creative adventure. Specifically my mentor Sharon Louden, who is an amazing artist that helped many artists found their creative path.

Website: https://www.shawnmxiao.com

Instagram: @shawnmatrex