Kiks Chua and Her Artist Journey
Creative Minds Series is a space to celebrate and discover the multifaceted lives of these interesting artists. Through this series we hope to create a source of inspiration, empowerment, enriching your lives with their stories and experiences.
My dear friend Kiks of @kiksdoesart is a lady of many talents. Over the past couple of years, I’ve seen her turn her drawing hobby into the early stages of a budding art career. Her focus is on people and portraits, mostly ladies, in paintings and drawings. We’ve been chatting more often recently during quarantine and I wanted to share her insights and motivations to pursue this path.
What was your journey like to get to where you are now?
I feel like I’m just at the beginning of developing my art skills and learning how to paint. My journey is full of anxiety and procrastination sprinkled with moments of clarity and excitement. To make art, the kind that is really me, I first need confidence in myself. Imposter syndrome is so real, but I'm learning how to manage those feelings. It took LOTS of podcasts, self-help books, pep talks to myself and sticking to a routine to get to this point where I feel less afraid to create. The dullness of quarantine really helped me focus on me, myself and I.
What kind of personal experiences influence your work?
I draw a lot of ladies and I think it’s from my childhood. I grew up in the Philippines in a very matriarchal society and attended an all girl school. For a large part of my life I was surrounded by sisters, aunties, housekeepers, teachers, classmates, friends – all women. I didn't realize the impact of that kind of environment when I moved away.
I just moved to the US with my husband, and covid makes it almost impossible to meet potential friends this year. I'm filling the loneliness of quarantine by drawing lots and lots of “new friends”.
Your work is very colourful. Would this be a response to the greyness of the cities you've lived in the past like Vancouver for example?
I think my use of color in my paintings is partly to do with my background in the tech industry as a designer. The brands I’ve worked with usually had bold colors so I was used to that.
Although I used to wear lots of grey and black when I lived in Vancouver, my personal items have always been pink and other girly hues. Having color in my life is a nice change now that I’ve decided to do this career shift. New city, new focus, new me!
Everything is highly politicised at the moment and things are changing in our society. Do you feel a certain responsibility as an artist to represent women in a way that adds to the current dialogue?
One of the things this crazy year has made me realize is that regarding race and my work lacks Asian women. Why am I not representing my own self? I guess most of the resources I find on the internet are of Caucasians so I have to be more mindful about my choices. I have dreams of making a big, bold, beautiful Chinese lady painting.
I do love drawing women of all sizes. I'm attracted to the interesting shapes their bodies create, not just curvy girls but also muscular amazonian physiques. It can be interpreted as body positivity, but I just really enjoy drawing curves and muscles!
How would you describe your style in 3 words?
Messy, energetic, confident.
What advice would you give to a young creative wanting to become a painter?
The "style" that you're looking for is in your imperfections. Less thinking, more doing.
