Story & Lesson Highlights with Shenho Hshieh

We recently had the chance to connect with Shenho Hshieh and have shared our conversation below.

Shenho, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
As an artist, I try to chase consistency in the production of my paintings. From time to time, generating images can be quite challenging, and one of the biggest drives in staying productive is my fear of losing the skills I’ve tried so hard to learn. I feel if I stopped pursuing consistency, I’d lose a huge part of myself.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Shenho Hshieh. I’m an artist who uses wet media such as watercolor and acrylic ink. My fascination with wet media developed during my study at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. I worked as a freelance illustrator for clients such as the Los Angeles Times. After achieving my MFA from the Laguna College of Art and Design, my art changed in a direction that felt more personal to me. Lately, I’ve been creating images that are representational narratives relating to my anxieties. There’s a varying degree of distortion in my figures, and themes often include familial struggles and solitude. My paintings attempt to evoke psychological and emotional weight, allowing for audience participation.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My most influential relationship is with my mother and two brothers. I think a lot of my worldviews and interests developed from spending time with them. I feel they shaped the moral foundation of my character. Although we shared the same experiences in activities such as travel, education, and recreation, we differed a lot in personality and goals.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There was a time when I almost stopped pursuing an art career. In 2007, I attended UCSD as a visual arts major. However, their education didn’t interest me. The curriculum emphasized conceptual art. I instead wanted to learn foundation drawing. In the end, I decided to switch my major to mathematics, a subject I didn’t mind in high school. In 2008 or 2009, I transferred to UC Berkeley. As I continued studying mathematics, I started disliking it, and I felt lost in my life purpose. At UC Berkeley, I enrolled in a drawing class for fun. A couple weeks in, it reignited my passion for the arts. From that point, I made an important decision to drop out of university and transfer to an art school.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
I view the public version of myself as a part of the real me. I act a bit differently at home than I do in public, but I think they’re both honest versions of myself reacting to the varied situations that I’m experiencing.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
A beneficial aspect of being an artist is the lifestyle, where career and hobby can often overlap. Even if I retired tomorrow, I’d still be making paintings. To be honest, I don’t know what the customers will miss. They will still have access to view and purchase the artwork. Depending on my productivity, they may miss the consistency of output.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shenho-hshieh.com
• Instagram: @shenhohshieh
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shenho-hshieh-6834667b/

Image Credits
Shenho Hshieh