Artist Statement
I begin with observation - objects collected, dioramas built in the studio, drawings made from life. A narrative starts to form and I let it. Then I push it away.
That moment of resistance is important. I want the painting to develop beyond what I intended, to go somewhere I couldn't have planned. Each layer is a decision made, then reconsidered, then followed wherever it leads. The work finds its own logic before I return to it with any kind of judgement.
What I bring back is the question of how much to reveal. I work semi-abstractly by intention - not as a style but as a way of holding open the space between the painting and the person looking at it. The animal emerges, or is half-hidden, or is felt before it is found. I am interested in that edge: where recognition and sensation meet, where the viewer is free to find their own way in.
A painting is finished when it holds that balance - specific enough to be felt, and open enough to be completed by someone else.
Eleanor Wong, 2026