Art Chowder November | December, Issue 18 | Page 23

F
or every place he portrays, he con-
ducts an earnest reconnaissance mission,
diligently researching the area. But he
also puts his boots on the ground and
walks around like a local to get a feel for
the town and its people. This process of
acquiring firsthand information is very im-
portant, maybe the most important thing
he feels he can do: “I need to become the
local person first.”
As a result of his obvious passion for
Times Square, he is often asked if he is
a native New Yorker. He is not; he was
born in Canton, China and lives now in
San Francisco … but he allows himself
to be affected by the places he visits, to
let them seep into him and soak his paint
palette. He strikes me as quite guileless, a
white canvas himself, there to be painted
fresh every time he sets foot on new soil.
November |December 2018
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