Interview with YaYa Chou

q) Introduce yourself first please?

a)I am a small dot on the planet.

q) Where do you live and work?

a)Los Angeles, California.

q) How did you started? How have you realized you wanted to become an artist?

a) I knew I am an artist since I could remember. I started dancing when I was 5, wrote my first short novel when I was 12. I drew and painted a lot while I was in elementary school. But my real journey didn’t start until I went to CalArts in 1997 to study Experimental Animation.

q) What materials do you use and why?

a) I use anything that inspires me or supports my concept. Most of the time I have an idea first, then I choose the material that’s appropriate for it. Material and media choice is important in my works because one concept that looks great in painting may be more powerful in sculpture. To communicate effectively is the key point. Also because I enjoy learning and working with different materials.

q) Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

a) My sisters who sew and my mother who cooks! Women who create delicate handiwork. In my mind, these people are true artists, they make art everyday in every way. Also, Judy Chicago’s works encouraged me a lot in the beginning of my career.

q) How do you dream up with your wacky ideas? What is your creation process?

a) I don’t dream up my ideas. All my ideas came from the people I observed and the way they think or do things. Believe or not, normal people do so many hypocritical things in their lives that they don’t even realize it. I simply watch the way they live, then pull some contradictory elements out and present them, sometime exaggerate them in my works. When my brain went dry, I read. Reading is an important activity in my life.
As for the creation process, an idea came in first; I do research on the subject or develop my own theory, decide on the image or material and try them out to see if they “speak.” If it does, proceed; if not, repeat the above procedures.

q) What haven’t you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

a) Haha… there are a lot…but here are few of them…Become a vegan, raise a pig and live by a huge tree.

q) Are there any contemporary artists that you love?

a) Gee… tons of them … Kiki Smith, Regina Frank, Louise Bourgeois, Liz Craft, Andy Goldsworthy, Patrick Dougherty and my friend Trine Wejp-Olsen and Fumiko Amano.

q) How long does it take for you to finish a piece?

a) It varies, from 2 days to 4 years.

q) What music, if any, do you like to have on while you're working?

a) Depends on the project, from silence to jungle sounds, from global music to jazz or bluegrass.

q) Do you do many art shows?

a) Yes. Sometimes more than I want, sometimes not as many as I desire.

q) Tell us about a recent dream you had.

a) I dreamed of my dog without his head, I was very worried about his lost head. But he’s still very happy and hyper, wagging his tail, sticking his tongue out and asks for patting + food.

q) What are you doing when you are not creating?

a) Thinking, reading and sleeping.

q) Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your work when it is sold?

a)I don’t think I am attached to my works; I often can’t wait to move on to the next project. But I do miss my works when they are sold or leave my studio…what’s my problem??

q) What new projects or exhibits are in your future?

a)Have a big juried show coming in April, I will be showing with some big-name feminist artists in So. Cal., feeling very honored for the little me to be with them. Also I am making another gummi bear sculpture for a show in Virginia in 2008, more big-name sculptors in the show for me to admire. Plus two more series of works in progress.

q) What is your favourite art related web site?

a)I don’t have a favorite one, but this one is my recent discovery… I can spend hours playing on a poem at http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Poem/

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?

a)Los Angeles Zoo… every animal is in odd number, mostly in one, few are in three (but separated in single cages).

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever done?

a)Visited my sister in the morgue.

q) any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?

a)Be responsible for your art. Research, study and know what you are saying.

q)your contacts….e-mail…links

a) www.YaYaChou.com
yaya4art@yahoo.com