Selected Works

Image description — Stage One: Isolation,

Acrylic on Canvas , 36 x 36 inch

ID #110699
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Yi Shin (Nora) Chiang, born in Taiwan in 1987, is a fine artist now based in San Francisco. Her love of painting started at the age of 16. In 2005, the winning of 2nd place in the Canada B.C. Annual Memorial Contest was a milestone for Yi Shin and this encouraged her to receive her B.F.A. in Illustration from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

After graduation, her passion for art led her to pursue her MFA in Fine Art at the Academy, and in 2013 received the opportunity to study in Italy at the Santa Reparata International School of Art’s summer program. She currently specializes in oil painting and is knowledgeable in watercolor, gouache, acrylic, etc.

The majority of her works focus on portraiture, figurative, landscape, and cityscape. In addition, she is currently doing a portrait series, “Half Empty, Half Full” that examines the critical moment when two opposing emotions coexist in competition, the depiction of an unresolved dilemma as revealed in the facial expression of someone paused at a turning point.

“This ambiguous moment is both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time,” explains Chiang. “There must be times in life when you hit a crossroads. Any kind of decision you make can change your life completely, but there would be no turning back once the choice has been made.” Chiang works exclusively with close friends and family, taking countless photos in preparation before executing a life-size study, then the final portrait. The figurative paintings represent earlier explorations of a similar theme in which ambiguity is expressed through the suggestion of motion, yet encompass emotional ambivalence as well. A comparison of the two series provides insight into the maturing of the underlying concept.