Wk3 – Artist Conversation – Tida Lek

Artist: Tida Lek

Exhibition: Midnight Lounge

Media: 72 x 66″ Oil on canvas

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov-East Gallery

Website: https://instagram.com/tidawhitney

As a Health Care Administration major student, the idea of visiting the Art galleries on campus never really crossed my mind since I always seemed to find myself buried in my own school work. However, this past Thursday, I was granted the opportunity to visit the lovely galleries we have and also had the chance to speak to the creators of the many art pieces showcased. I honestly appreciated all of the exhibited art pieces and found much joy out of examining them individually.

One specific piece that stood out the most to me was Tida Whitney Lek’s oil on canvas painting named “Midnight Lounge.” Along with a few other great pieces, this specific one was located in the Gatov-East Gallery. Nevertheless, Tida is a 22 year-old BFA Undergraduate at CSULB. Her emphasis is on Drawing and Painting. In addition, a great place to view her work besides the art galleries on campus is her Instagram: @tidawhitney.

Now, out of the many presented pieces, this was one my favorite because it definitely appealed to my style. For example, I prefer to wear dark clothing daily, but I’ll add something bright to my outfit to give it a little pizzazz. In this painting, there is definitely a variety of dark shades of blue and black, however, there is still room for a few bright, contrasting colors such as yellow and light purple. This piece also appealed to me the most because there is no actual formality. I enjoyed the concept of the different-sized diamond and parallelogram shapes. In general, this painting reminded me of something you’d find in an Alice In Wonderland scene because of the shapes and colors. Before speaking to Diego Palacios, artist of Agony ascending 1426 and Steel Chairs and Video, I assumed that this painting was a psychedelic art because the piece reminded of a kaleidoscope or a spiral. In fact, there are some artists who ingest psychoactive drugs such as LSD in order to create psychedelic art that may include morphed images or many abstract colors. However, I was incorrect about this assumption and he mentioned that the reason why it seems so freely drawn and abstract is because Tida did not have a structured painting in mind when she was working on it. More importantly, this piece represents Tida’s truthful reaction to jazz music. In the darker areas of the painting, Tida must have been listening to something sorrowful or gloomy, but towards the middle, she must have been listening to something jolly or chipper. In addition, she is extremely fond of this type of music: even to a point that she enjoys studying 1920’s jazz on her free time. But even so, when I first saw the piece, I assumed that since there are many lines involved, Tida must have used some sort of straightening tool like tape or a ruler to make the lines of the shapes straight. However, Diego said that she actually free-handed it, which I found quite impressive! I admired that a lot because I can’t imagine the pressure she must have felt while attempting to make these straight-lined shapes. Other than that, I also admired that Tida happily took a few months to complete this piece. There are many artists that tend to feel pressured to complete a piece because of an upcoming deadline, however Tida took her time and worked on it as she pleased. With this in mind, I personally believe that Art should not be rushed, because then it will seem as if you’re doing it as a task that needs to be completed, rather than a hobby or job you love. Overall, I really enjoyed focusing on Tida’s painting because it was something I truly couldn’t get my eyes off of. As I walked into that Gallery, I knew immediately that the was the piece I was going to cover.