2024 iCreate Honorable Mention - Displayed in Bruce Museum's iCreate Exhibition
2024 Scholastic Art Awards Gold Key (Mixed Media)
When Asphalt Turns Water
2023, Collage on Bristol 24" x 19"
When Asphalt Turns Water is a surreal collage envisioning fish swimming through city streets, replacing cars in a quiet, flooded world. The absence of people creates a moment suspended in time.
The initial sense of loss shifts to peace, as life takes new form in unexpected ways. The fish bring movement and grace to a place once ruled by noise.
This piece reflects on transformation and renewal — how life continues, even beyond the present, in forms we cannot predict.
Emptying Out
2023, Mixed Media 24" x 24"
Emptying Out is a mixed media art piece that depicts the inside of a trashcan inspired by the artist’s memories of the Lunar New Year. It is filled with traces of a Malaysian-American home: pomelo skin, crispy seaweed packaging, an Old Town milk tea bag, dried squid snacks, Ricola cough drops, and two Ferrero Rocher wrappers.
Nestled among the shredded paper are pistachio shells and sunflower seeds that pile high into the air as long-separated relatives return home for the festival.
This piece captures how the story of faraway families, long-awaited reunions, and late-night festivities is found betwixt discarded packaging.
2024 Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention (Mixed Media)
2023 Congressional Art Competition - Winning artist from NY District 16. Artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol Cannon Tunnel
2024 Scholastic Art Awards Gold Key (Painting)
Green Screen
2023, Oil on Canvas 18" x 24"
Green Screen portrays the use of video games as an escape from modern civilization. The artwork intends to highlight the blurred boundaries between reality and fantasy that have been brought about by increasingly immersive game environments.
The juxtaposition of lush plants with a gaming setup reflects the irony of using technology, such as a handheld console or virtual reality headset, to experience a rendition of nature that is simultaneously lifelike and artificial.
This artwork captures the essence of escapism and transformative experiences through technology.
Dreams of Koi
2022, Acrylic Paint on Canvas 20" x 16"
Dreams of Koi is a surrealistic art piece that celebrates the wonder of nature within a dreamscape. At the heart of the piece is a Pekin duck peacefully watching a school of koi. The duck’s fascination invites the viewer to join its appreciation of the vibrant fish as they swirl around the kitchen sink.
The kitchen setting provides a glimpse into the life of an average person. Slightly chipped plates and the stained wall reflect the imperfection of our daily lives.
The artwork embraces the creative and often illogical nature of dreams, which offer a different perspective on our daily lives and perhaps see beauty in naturally mundane experiences.
2023 iCreate People's Choice Award - Displayed in Bruce Museum's iCreate Exhibition
2023 Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention (Painting)
2024 Katonah Museum Young Artists Exhibition
2023 Scholastic Art Awards Silver Key (Painting)
Flowers over Chrysanthemum Tea
2022, Oil on Canvas 20" x 16"
Flowers Over Chrysanthemum Tea blends Eastern and Western aesthetics, exploring how cultural elements can merge into new and meaningful forms.
Inspired by Dutch artist Willem Kalf — who often painted porcelain as a symbol of luxury — this piece reframes porcelain as something deeply familiar and personal. By integrating a family teapot, a traditional fan, and natural flourishes within a European-style composition, it bridges cultural perspectives and honors Chinese traditions.
Applying the still-life techniques of the old masters to celebrate personal heritage, this work reflects the timelessness of art and the creative possibilities of cultural exchange, especially within the context of an Asian-American upbringing.
Echoes of the Everyday
2023, Charcoal on Bristol 24" x 19"
Echoes of the Everyday explores the beauty hidden in simple, utilitarian objects — spoons, a jar, and a familiar snack bag — rendered in stark black and white. By stripping away color, the drawing emphasizes texture, form, and contrast, encouraging viewers to see these ordinary items as sculptural and significant.
The arrangement evokes a sense of intimacy, as though these objects hold quiet stories of daily life, nourishment, and cultural memory.
2024 Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention (Drawing & Illustration)
2024 Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention (Painting)
Persimmons
2022, Acrylic on Canvas 14" x 11"
Persimmons reflects on nostalgia, simplicity, and the quiet beauty of everyday objects. At its center is a Smucker’s jam jar — a symbol of tradition and comfort that recalls shared moments around the breakfast table. Though ordinary, the jar serves as a vessel for memory, carrying the warmth of family meals and the sweetness of simple pleasures. The persimmons represent the passage of time and the changing of seasons.
Together, these elements create a composition of calm and contemplation — creating time to appreciate the beauty in the ordinary.
Kaleidocanopy
2021, Acrylic on Canvas 14" x 11"
Kaleidocanopy explores the relationship between nature and abstraction through form and color. This painting reimagines trees as a kaleidoscopic vision, with leaves and light reduced to rhythmic circles.
The geometric shapes bring order to the natural chaos of foliage, creating a sense of harmony. A palette of warm sunlight tones and cool shadows enhances the contrast, inviting viewers to see the natural world through an abstract lens.
2022 Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention (Painting)
2024 FMA Permanent Collection Award for Excellence in Art
To the Lighthouse (Dinner Scene)
2024, Acrylic on Canvas 8" x 10"
To the Lighthouse (Dinner Scene) captures the charged yet fleeting harmony of Virginia Woolf’s iconic dinner table moment. Everyone’s gaze turns toward the young, self-absorbed Charles Tansley, creating a quiet tension that reflects the novel’s exploration of ego, class, and connection.
Through this scene, the piece distills Woolf’s themes of perception, memory, and the fragile threads that hold people together, if only for a moment.
"The Time in Between Clapping" - Miyazaki
2023, Acrylic on Canvas 12" x 16"
The Time in Between Clapping explores the balance between stillness and motion, inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s films and the Japanese concept of Ma — the beauty of pauses.
A purple and pink sunset sets the stage as urban structures merge with the fading light, capturing a moment that feels suspended in time. The focus lies in these quiet transitions, revealing the magic hidden in everyday scenes.
This piece is a reflection of the subtle, fleeting moments that make the ordinary extraordinary.
Autumn’s Quiet Bend
2021, Oil on Whiteboard 12" x 16"
Autumn’s Quiet Bend captures the fleeting transition between fall and winter, where the last golden leaves meet the first touch of snow. The winding stream reflects both movement and stillness, drawing the viewer’s eye through a landscape of contrasts — warm foliage against cool snow, life against dormancy.
This piece invites reflection on nature’s cycles, urging us to pause and appreciate the quiet beauty found in moments of change.
Camera Obscura
2020, Acrylic on Canvas 16" x 20"
Camera Obscura examines the tension between beauty and destruction through the lens of modern social behavior. Two young girls take a selfie in a field of flowers, unaware of the environmental ruin around them. The burnt flowers highlight our tendency to prioritize image over reality, reflecting the disconnect between social media and the world's pressing issues.
The piece reflects on the dichotomy of modern existence — where self-focus can blind us to the larger challenges we face.
2021 Scholastic Art Awards Honorable Mention (Painting)
Lemon Tea
2020, Pastel 9" x 12"
Lemon Tea celebrates the quiet elegance of everyday rituals. The polished teapot, paired with the bright zest of lemons and the softness of a fringed cloth, creates a dialogue between warmth, texture, and light.
The composition reflects a sense of calm and refinement, inviting viewers to slow down and appreciate the beauty in simple, familiar objects that often go unnoticed.
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Shoot me a message at ayc77@cornell.edu