Artist’s Statement 1998

ARTIST’S STATEMENT
By Bernice Bing
Reprinted from the Asian American Women’s Artists Association Catalogue

When I was an art student, I came to the realization that a brush felt more comfortable and familiar in my hand thatn a pencil. Dexterity with a brush led me to the fine arts-painting.

At that time I knew almost nothing about Eastern art or thought. I was totally naive about my own cultural heritage. I was living and reacting to parallel worlds–one, the rational, conscious world of the West; the other, the intuitive, unconscious world of the East. This duality caused me to explore the differences and sameness in art forms.

Existentialism was the first influence that persuaded me toward the abstract expressionist school of painting. The philosophical bases of existentialism–one’s responsibility for making one’s own nature as well as personal freedom, independent decision making, and the importance of commitment–were to me the attitude of the abstract way of painting.

1998

Asian American Women Artists Association
San Francisco, 1998
Artist’s Statement
by Bernice Bing