Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Wei
Hi Angela, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Art has been woven into the fabric of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, with an artist mother, creativity was strongly encouraged in our home. I spent countless weekends as a child at the National Gallery of Canada, where I was captivated by Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, Monet’s water lilies, and Renoir’s provincial landscapes. This early interest in visual culture naturally translated into a love of art making. Childhood photos often capture me in the midst of doodling or cutting paper clothes—my urge to create seemed instinctive.
Participating in and winning a few children’s painting competitions hosted by the United Nations Environment Program gave me early confidence in my artistic abilities. This passion for the arts led me to pursue a degree in visual arts and art history at Barnard College, where I took classes in design, drawing, and painting in different mediums. During that time, I began experimenting with graphic design and was invited by Vice Media group to design a series of over 30 billboards advertising Vice’s Investigation Night TV shows. It was an illuminating experience to convey ideas solely through typography and digital images for a target audience.
Post-graduation, I explored the arts from a different angle, writing for publications like Christie’s magazine, Architectural Digest, Fashionista, and Elle about fine arts, design, architecture, and fashion. Being able to approach art both as a creator and a writer has been deeply enriching. However, my true calling was always in painting. During the pandemic, I rediscovered this passion and began to develop the vibrant, surrealist style that has since become my signature. I now have the privilege of dedicating my full time to large-scale acrylic paintings, which have been exhibited in galleries across the country. I love having ownership of the entire creative process, from start to finish and hope to keep doing this for the rest of my life.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Being a creative inevitably comes with its own set of challenges. For me, I have found that the accessibility of the internet has been both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it offers endless inspiration and exposure to a vast array of styles, pushing my creative boundaries. On the other hand, the constant stream of content can be overwhelming. With so many voices vying for attention, it can be difficult to develop your unique language and to stay true to what you want, independent of what critics or the market is demanding. It took time for me to discover what I was genuinely drawn to making, and to cultivate a visual language that felt authentic and capable of adaptable.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an artist specializing in illustrative, imaginative, large-scale acrylic paintings. Making an effort to be versatile across genres, I take on a multifaceted approach to image-making, blending contemporary subjects with techniques drawn from traditional Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, and Renaissance portraiture. By exploring various styles and art-historical influences, I enjoy creating intricately detailed cosmological worlds that reflect both individual and universal experiences.
At the end of October, I’ll be having a solo exhibition at The Living Gallery in Brooklyn, showcasing 10-15 pieces. I’m especially proud of the experimentation in this body of work, where I’ve merged the super flat color style I’ve previously explored with more layered textures that bring out nuanced tonality and depth. Many of these works take on a more crackly and fuzzy feeling, using this language to explore dreams and memories. I think this tension is really exciting and places my characters in a more imaginative world.
The same month, I will also be showing a painting titled ‘Navigator’ at Van Der Plas gallery in Manhattan. It’s a smaller work that depicts a woman navigating the turbulent ocean waters as she paddles on her clam raft through the treacherous waters. The work is on a smaller scale than what I usually create (36 x 24 inches). I love the intimacy that this scale offers and how it invites viewers to come up close to examine it. So being playful with scale has also been very rewarding.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think many people don’t realize how much planning and organization go into my creative process. Given the world-building aspect and the often chaotic compositions of my work, it’s easy to assume I approach it spontaneously. This assumption also ties into the stereotype of artists being wild and impulsive. In reality, I’m very detail-oriented and plan every step meticulously. I start by making an analog sketch on paper (my most familiar medium), then scan it and create a color study in Procreate to ensure every part of the painting is mapped out. Afterward, I project the image onto a primed canvas using a digital projector and trace it, transferring the drawing directly onto the surface. Only then do I start applying paint.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://angelawei.cargo.site/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelawei/
Image Credits
Rachel Uffner Gallery
Chambers Fine Arts
