Where does your inspiration come from?

Basically from life. The ideas ringing in my head connect to what I see in my daily life. Sometime it’s from a book, a face I’ve seen in the subway, a piece of writing, or theories I’ve learned, then they reconnect and generate into a new concept. When I am brainstorming an interactive piece, I mentally divide my body into parts, and think about the relationship between each of them in conjunction with my mind. I consider human responses/interactions as one of the outcomes of my art, which I love to explore.

Why did you continue you art career in the United States? What are you planning to do here?

The art scene here is much bigger with lots of exhibition space, which gives me an opportunity to be exposed to a huge variety of art creation. Also, I want to see things differently and interact with people in various cultural settings. Coming from a different city in the east, I find that their (American) culture, communication and way of thinking have informed me a lot and give me alternate sources for inspiration. I look forward to seeing where it might take my art to.

What do you think about the media art/ art field in Hong Kong?

To be an artist in such a capitalistic society is tough, because of the lack of audience and facilities for art. The culture of art appreciation is still developing. Therefore, education is very important to let people know what type of art they are seeing and why it is interesting. Also, there is potential to “apply media art” in Hong Kong because public art is quite welcome. It could be introduced as a form of new commercial, film, movie and entertainment industry, and some of them have already been applied in a very successful way.

Growing up in Eastern culture, what influences are reflected on your art?

The city structure has so much influence. Overly excessive information, having too many things constantly happening at this small and over-crowded place simultaneously, has built an ability in me to spot out a wide variety of things and marriage them. Hong Kong is a completely highly mediated urban city with multi and mixed cultures. I love linking up the unlinked situation and matter in my creations. I think that this massive way of thinking is exclusively derived from a city like this. My ideas articulated from a complicated group, which focus on one specific meaning resulting in new alternatives.

As a young emerging Asian artist, what kind of suggestion would you give to fellow artists?

I think one of the most difficult challenges of being an artist is to be substantial, especially at the beginning. Art is something where you won’t see an immediate result, which not always realistic too. It is regretful to see talented fellows giving up art for the most realistic reasons, which is quite common. As an artist raised in Hong Kong, I think it is a strange place where arts are highly marginalized and alienated from the social life, which gives extreme limitation for artists to survive. I will say to any newcomers that as long as you have the passion and interest in creating art, do it! Though the process is tough, if you give up, you might be giving up your talent.

After interviewing Eric Siu in his studio, I am led to think that to succeed as an artist in materialistic world, trust in your beliefs and a strong mind are the artist survival kits. Thus, to see art works shown in a gallery is akin to finding treasure.