Phillip Hua

When I was growing up in San Jose, fields, orchards and wild, undeveloped lots were abundant. In the house that I spent most of my adolescent years in, there was a small personal farm behind our backyard. I could hear crickets when I went to bed. Today, that small farm is now replaced by new housing. The nights are mostly silent. The fields and orchards that I remembered are now office parks and commercial spaces. Where the change has been an economic boon to the Bay Area, I question what was replaced. The tide of redevelopment fueled by the relentless march of tech washed away so much of the beauty of nature. My memories of San Jose no longer align with what it is today. 

My artistic process is a blend of traditional and digital techniques, revolving around creating photo composites that I print, rework, scan, and digitally rework again. I incorporate dots to represent printing, ink bleeds to represent painting, and squares to represent pixels, influenced by our blended digital and corporeal lives. I draw inspiration from Asian brush painting, technology, and nature. While political, my goal is to always lure the viewer with beauty and color to provoke contemplation.

This exhibition draws from over 17 years of work, ranging from portraits that invoke nostalgia and childhood to works that portray the intersection of the environment with the economy.