Artist Profile Candy Qu

Artist Statement

As a non-native speaker arriving in America, the first question I asked myself was whether I should hide my Chinese identity to assimilate into Western society. This exhibition explores the tension between a blood-born identity and the influence of Western education, capturing moments of struggle, adaptation, and self-reflection.

The complex interplay between two cultural backgrounds—the deeply rooted traditions of my homeland and the dominant Western perspectives I encounter—creates a sense of duality in my understanding of the world around me. Friendships, social interactions, and self-expression are filtered through this layered lens of belonging and alienation. At times, I feel caught in an undefined space, belonging to neither side yet shaped by both.

Artist Biography

Candy’s artwork has been exhibited in the RISD Memorial Hall Painting Department Gallery, RISD Waterman Gallery, Chaffey Community Museum of Art, California Institute of Art, Garcia Center for the Arts, the Washington DC District Office, and Art-Collide Online Gallery. In the past, she has received the Eutopia Art Residency in Greece, A Space Gallery Artist Residency in New York, a Spring 2024 Honors designation at RISD, and a Rancho Cucamonga Community Art Scholarship. She has also been an exhibition proposal finalist for the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, a California Young Artist Scholar, and has received a silver key for her Scholastic painting and art portfolio, and second place in the Congressional Art Competition.