AAWAA ARTISTS

Urban Envy

- URBAN - ALTERNATIVE - MACABRE - DIGITAL -

Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Urban Envy's works have traces of her political beliefs and her own cultural bridges.

In 1999 she founded AlterAsian (1999 - 2007): an alternative Asian-American web magazine which in 2000 was chosen as one of "Top 20 Asian-American Websites that Stand Out From the Crowd" by A-magazine: Inside Asian-America.

In 2003, she was one of the original members of The Federation of East Village Artists (FEVA-NYC). FEVA-NYC promotes opportunities for artists today while honoring the work of legendary community members by working collectively with local artists, arts organizations, business owners, community groups, and the public. Their signature activity is the annual HOWL! Festival of East Village Arts, which celebrates the neighborhood's role as the cradle of counterculture.

In 2005, she co-founded the New York Tributary Art Movement with 3 other New York City Artists. NY Tributary is an art movement that brings together various artistic disciplines by concentrating on the process and the message of the art work. The NY Tributary also works to bring art to the "mainstream" by their street based performances, activities, and showings.

In 2006, she founded the Project: 2020 Suzie Wong which attempts to bring awareness and social change through art. Project: 2020 uses the novel/film character "Suzie Wong" from The World of Suzie Wong as a "SYMBOL" of historical and current racism and discrimination against Asian women in the western world and attempts to change the image of Asian women within mainstream America.

Urban Envy's works can be seen in local galleries of New York City and she has over the years fulfilled various private commissions.

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Statement

Living in a society where few of us can be ourselves, or we suffer abuse from the politically correct police (PC Police, AKA, liberals with guilt). Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place known to have the largest number of PC Police per capita, it was and is a constant struggle to be myself without being labeled something that I am not.

I struggle because I am a very bad liar and cannot contain myself when confronted and when you speak of things people do not want to hear, especially when it is the truth, they have the tendency to tune you out or label you as something they dislike and simply dismiss your opinion based on the label.

When did putting up a PC facade become the meaning of liberalism (I think it was in the 80s)? Why can't we just call it as we see it? If that is liberalism, I am not a liberal and do not support this brand of liberalism. Some have called me a "radical" just because I like to quote Cherrie Moraga and read Karl Marx. Others have labeled me a "conservative," just because I do not "Bow Down" to the PC police. This labeling trend is very disturbing. Since it seems to be the very opposite of what "they" preach.

"If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicious that grip us in out policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"

- JFK 9/14/1960

I found that painting is an effective way of getting my point across, yet caused far less hostile and abusive responses. People expect Artists to tell the truth, but do not of average folks. Controversial topics are often taboo at the dinner table, yet uncontroversial art is considered boring. A controversial artist is considered to have an edge, a controversial guy next door is to be avoided. Painting to me was the perfect way to bring two things that are most important in my life: My love for visual arts and my involvement in community activism.

My paintings tell a story, not only the typical story against injustice that many expect as a woman of color. As I cannot simply become a martyr or romanticize and glorify my sufferings, I take it a step further and deeply scrutinize myself as well as others and call them on their deficiencies. Every individual and every group is fair game.

I paint on my pc using my tablet on Adobe Photoshop. Usually starting with clippings and image files of reference materials that I have collected through the years. They could be from magazines, newspapers, web, etc. Then I make a collage of my story. When I have a great story that I want to tell, that is when I start painting. This often starts from the collage or I may draft up something from scratch and of course it could be the combination.

http://www.urbanenvy.com