Nuotian Cai was born in 1999 and currently works and studies in London. She graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute BA Oil painting in 2021. As an illustrator and artist, she creates artwork using different media such as painting, sculpture, installation, and video. Her projects explore the depiction and communication of emotions in relation to well-being.
Nuotian Cai
My works explore the connection between psychology and art. I believe that art is both a cognitive and an emotional process. During my BA studies, I investigated the link between the human psyche and art through surrealism. My MA first year dissertation discussed the impact of art therapy on children in the context of Chinese society.
For the final exhibition I have used sculpture and painting to convey ideas of traumatic memories from childhood. I believe that visual artworks can be a powerful tool to convey psycho-emotional energy to other people.
TRANSMISSION is a sculpture made of resin, viscose fabric, and oil pastel. The work takes inspiration from dominoes that are created from children’s heads that represent memories stored in the mind. They fall one by one towards larger and larger cards, as well as towards the supporting hands of an adult.
The symbolic impact of childhood trauma on adulthood.
The child's imprisoned half-body and hands are also evidence of these experiences.
Medium:
resin, viscose fabric, oil pastelSize:
100x 40 cm
Three digital paintings printed on canvas, 110cm x 40cm (each)
Details
Digital printing on canvas
IMMERSION is a series of paintings expressing the feelings that come with traumatic childhood memories.
Human memory is subjective and cumulative. Based on the linearly transmitted feelings of memory, through the language of painting, I creates the sensation of gradually drowning in painful memories. The elements used in the paintings echo the installation TRANSMISSION , with the works having an abstract connection with each other.