Vinyl Pulse recently had the pleasure of visiting LA artist Martin Hsu at his studio for a look at his new paintings and custom Qee for his upcoming two-person show with Andrew Brandou, “For the Love of Tiger”. Opening on Thursday, February 11th (7-11 PM) @ Munky King Melrose, the show celebrates the coming Chinese New Year – The Year of the Tiger as well as reflects upon the tiger’s endangered status throughout the globe.
By day, Martin is an animation professional and has worked on several shows including Ni Hao , Kai-Lan. In his off time, he finds time to work on his own original art which has been shown at numerous group shows including the recent Three Apples Hello Kitty show.
Martin begins each painting with a detailed sketch that serves as the basis for the piece. He also works out color compositions on the computer before mixing his paints (cel vinyl and some acrylic)
For this upcoming joint show, Martin pored through reference material detailing traditional Chinese patterns, costumes and motifs as a source of inspiration. The result is three original paintings, a custom Qee and a collaborative piece with Andrew Brandou.
One constant running through Martin’s new paintings is that of the Chinese folklore concept of the Tiger as a guardian of children. His Protect. Revive. piece inverts the relationship, with the children serving to protect the Tiger represented as a tree in the forest. His second piece builds on this theme with the inclusion of the five poisonous animals that Tigers keep from harming children.
While the first two pieces focus on a forest motif, his third solo piece, Happiness, Exponentially is inspired by the Chinese symbol for happiness – in this case made up of the outlines of happy children and Tigers. In fact, Martin has chosen to represent “Double Happiness” with a pair of the symbols – this is a special presentation typically preserved for weddings. Too cute 😉
In addition to the paintings, Martin also created his very first custom toy – a Tiger Qee. While he found the experience challenging both in terms of maintaining proportions over the curved surfaces and dealing with constraints of the shape (nose placement for example), the result is fantastic. Even in the disassembled WIP state shown below, the strong design and vivid colors contrasted with the black base are impressive. We certainly wouldn’t mind seeing this as a production 8” Qee in the future.
For the Love of Tiger is not to be missed. Be sure to check out the opening this Thursday (2.11, 7-11 PM) @ Munky King Melrose. Also check out the official show preview (partial).
Munky King
7308 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.938.0091
Martin is awesome! Wish I could see the exhibit.
Amazing work!!