Sarah Weizhen Xu – Circle Foundation for the Arts

What themes does your work involve?

Portrait, Figure, Still life etc.

Describe your creative process.

Most of my works are done in north nature light in my studio, and completely from life, with a model or subjects in front of my easel. I work in oil, I usually pre-mix the colors I need for the painting, and the paint would include lead white, vermilion red, cadmium yellow etc. The paintings usually take me more than 1 day to finish, some times would take more than a few weeks on the larger projects.

What influences your work? What inspires you?

Old masters oil paintings from France, Holland, Italian and Spain influence my work tremendously, and the beauty of nature inspires me as well. My goal in making art is to present what I see; the most beautiful part of human and nature, to my audience, and let them feel what I feel, see what I see.

What is good art? What makes a piece of art great?

Good art requires good craft, good materials, longevity of the piece, and an interesting subject that makes people want to remember the look of it, and also let people feel they understand the meaning behind it.

What is the role of the artist today?

Artists today need to understand how to improve their skills in order to truly present what they think and see through their Art, good craftsmanship is the key to successfully express themselves, just like a language. And they should focus on themselves, their own idea of beauty and deep meaning, instead of listening to others criticizing what is art and what is not.