Alexandra Chiou says of her work…
My latest series is about the transformative journey of healing after personal loss. I draw on nature and memory to create dimensional works on paper that give physical form to abstract concepts and feelings such as hope, resilience, and wonder; each layer embodies the multitude, depth, and complexity of emotions felt during the healing process. While there can be moments of sadness, I focus on growth by creating moments of peace, joy, and beauty in my work.
These newest works on paper explore the beauty of permanence and impermanence, change and renewal. These artworks are manifestations of generational resilience, personal endurance, blossoming growth, and spiritual rebirth. These dynamic compositions contain flourishes of seeking, searching, and coming into being. Ultimately, they are traces and echoes of love, peace, and memory.
I am drawn to paper as it is a very understated and resilient material. It can be fragile and delicate but also strong and sturdy. For each handmade piece of artwork, I carve hundreds and thousands of precise knife cuts. I design, paint, cut, and arrange various shapes and colors as if I am piecing together a puzzle with each individual component flowing harmoniously into the larger landscape. Each shape, line, and color is a hint, trace, and impression of nature, memory, and a transformative future.
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Alexandra Chiou is a visual artist who draws on nature and memory to create layered, dimensional works on paper that explore the transformative journey of healing after personal loss. Her pieces give physical form to abstract feelings and concepts such as hope, joy, peace, and wonder. Chiou's work has been ex-hibited nationally at galleries including Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston, MA), IA&A at Hillyer (Washington, DC), Launch LA (Los Angeles, CA), Newport Art Museum (Newport, RI), and Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro, NC), and internationally at venues including the US Embassy in Ethiopia. Her pieces are held in public collections such as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA and have been featured in publications including The Washington Post. She currently lives and works in Arlington, VA.