Terry Cheung's Interview

1. How have you worked to develop your technique?
Sculpture can includes a huge range of materials and mediums. It takes a large quantity of time to learn how the materials work, what they do and their processes. So far I have only learned and worked with some of them and I am looking forward to working with many other materials after I graduate. For now, I will concentrate on working with the materials I am familiar with for my thesis. Sculpting is unlike other kinds of art, mostly because of the tools you must use. You can't just sculpt anywhere because most of the tools involved aren't portable.

2. What size do you enjoy working in?
I enjoy working on medium size and small sized pieces, (not bigger than human size) and as small as I can go; creating portable works of art. I'm not considering going to large presently because I have space restrictions in both the rooms I work in and storage. 

 3. Your sculptures tend to vary in medium, what are you most comfortable
working with?
The works you have seen are mostly about experiencing the materials. They included plaster, wood, metal and resin. All the materials work very differently. I made a lot of plaster pieces at the beginning because they are easy to work with and control. I love working with resin in the meantime,
putting resin on a soft material, such as fabric, or paper, can hold the form of them.

4. What have you found to be the most difficult?
The most difficult thing about sculpture is the process. There are always errors, and mistakes. Accidents always happen when I am making a piece. Controlling the medium is the thing I hate the most. When a work is finished, it doesn't always come out the way I had originally envisioned it. It is either a blessing in surprise or a huge waste of time.

5. Are there any materials that you have yet to work with, that you’re looking
forward to experimenting with in the future?
Like I said, there are so many different materials in sculpture. The materials that I am most interested in learning to use/ experimenting with most are aluminum casting and possibly bronze. However, they are really difficult to use and require a dangerous process. Something I'd also be interested in trying is carving from stone and/or wood.

6. Your works tend to be rather abstract, who or what inspires you?
You can see some of my works show the movement of a vortex. I am obsessed with the vortex shape. The Vortex gives me the sense of an infinite being. My inspirations are mostly from nature. I have been working on human figures the last two semesters, but I don’t really enjoy it,
so I have decided to go back to the beginning. The abstract approach is very influenced by the famous sculptor Brancusi.

7. What beliefs do you try to embody in your works? How do you express these
beliefs?
I want my works to have a sense of nature and movement, like I have mentioned the vortex or tornado shape. This kind of nature is deadly but beautiful. I want to include this kind of feeling in my works.

8. How do you expect viewers to interpret your works?
I don’t expect viewers to get what I am doing or figure out the contents of my works. I understand art has a different meaning to different people. I expected the viewers would at least appreciate the process of making the works and the effort I have put in.

9. When creating a work, are you concerned with its future context?
For the works I have sent you, I haven’t thought about their context or meaning. Like I said, they are mostly experience of the material. But I will think about it in my thesis show.

10. Are your works created in groups or on an individual basis?
My works are mostly created on an individual basis to learn and understand the process of the materials. I will create a series of work for my thesis show.

11. Would you rather your works be self contained, or gesture outward affecting
the space its placed in?
I prefer my works self contained than gesture outward. That means I prefer making individual sculpture than the viewers will put their attention on the piece. Installation sculpture is the last thing I will do in sculpture.

12. Have you worked to create works with a function before?
Yes, I made a lamp with fabric and resin. I was going to make a chair in a more artistic way but I failed. I am very interesting in making something that is considered both art and furniture. More like a furniture design, but this I not what I want to achieve in Mason Gross.

13. What other types of art do you enjoy creating or exploring?
Besides sculpture, I also enjoy painting. I took painting class 1a-2b and I enjoy it. But painting for me is more like having fun, I don’t want to take it too serious and it will change the purpose of painting for me. That is why I don’t double major on sculpture and painting.

14. Has any particular class at Rutgers help your work grow substantially?
The facilities in Rutgers help a lot. Especially the sculpture building LAB in Livingston. It has all the tools and things I ever needed to create art. And I love the faculty members over there, they are very helpful and fun to work with. I would suggest everyone to take 1 or 2 sculpture class just for fun. You
will enjoy it.

15. Have any artists affected your style?
I wouldn’t say affected my style. But I would say there are some artists that are very interested me and give me some references on making art. They are Brancuzi and Henry Moore. They are both abstract sculptors.

16. Do you have anything in mind for thesis?
For now I don’t really have any particular idea for my thesis, but I am thinking of using resin on different kind on fabric to make a series.

17. Are you working on anything at the moment?
Since the semester just began, so I am not really working on anything yet, but I am having some ideas sketches on my sketchbook.

18. Do you title your works?
I didn’t title my previous works because they are mostly experiments. I will think about putting a theme to my thesis show and give them titles.

19. If you were to attach an emotion to one of your works, which would it be ?
I would say SAD. Many friends said my works are always sad and full of darkness. I think there is some kind of unconscious darkness inside me?

20. What message are you trying to portray in your works?
Like I said, I don’t expect everyone understand what I am doing. But at least appreciate the effort that I have put in.