I never have much to say about my work. They are not really about anything other than maybe an attempt to offer homage to the ordinary objects and places that are special to me. I feel that I have already projected myself into the work during the process of making and therefore find it difficult or unnecessary to supplement the work with words afterward. Thus, instead of having a statement about the work, it is more about the need and the want behind the work.
When I sit in front of you, I could not help but look at you with awe, thus I look at you timidly as if I am on a mission to get it right. No longer am I painting with a theme in mind or a statement to make, but with the hope and yearning to offer the proper love and respect.
Bio
Jay Wu paints plein air, as well as from photographs, using minimal oil paint and no medium, creating a poetic impression of his reality. His intimate paintings may be small in size yet speak to a larger, spiritual relationship with his subject. On his walks and drives he pays attention to whatever catches his eye, knowing that there are innumerable potential paintings at his fingertips. Wu’s process involves three stages of seeing: “How will I transform from what I see, to what I want to see, to what I want you to see?” When asked how he chooses a scene or subject, he pauses and considers, “They speak to me and you just have to be ready to listen.”
Wu received a BA in studio arts and mathematics from Boston College and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He studied the artists, Jon Imber and Barnett Rubenstein and he has exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Galatea Fine Art, Boston; Attleboro Arts Museum; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport; School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Watson Gallery, Stonington. He has received numerous awards including Prince of Wales Foundation Fellowship, First Award and the R. Tait McKenzie Medal. Wu lives and works in the Boston area.
