Spotlight on Artist Xiaomin Ou

Welcome to The Elective’s digital art museum, dedicated to the incredible work of AP Arts students. Each week we highlight a work or series created in one of the AP Arts concentrations—AP 2-D Art and Design, 3-D Art and Design, and AP Drawing (the AP Program also offers Art History and Music Theory)—as well as a statement from the artist (and, occasionally, their teacher).

From the first cave paintings to contemporary breakthroughs in virtually reality, art, in all its forms, has been a crucial way for people to process, make sense of, comment on, and grapple with the world around them. In 2020, there is a lot to process and grapple with—and AP Art students have risen to the challenge. The work many of them submitted in their final portfolios is explicitly of the moment, from commentary on the covid-19 pandemic to the celebration of people of color to the nature of heroism in perilous times.

The work is often challenging and provocative but always insightful, inspiring, and expansive.

This week we feature a digital work made by Xiaomin Ou from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut.

Here’s Xiaomin’s statement on the work:

“I gravitate toward watercolor for its airiness, feathery touch, and the seamless and clean blend of potentially contrasting colors. I painted women first for the beautiful geometry of faces and curves. Art to me was a medium through which we can see a better world, hence the fantasy element. The women in my art are also modern because they command with their gestures and expressions. As the series progressed, I realized that in my work, I want to show that women can have both fantasies and power.”

Here’s Xiaomin’s teacher’s statement on the work:

And here are a few more images from Xiaomin’s portfolio:

Student statements are lightly edited for length and clarity.