heART of History: An Introduction
Cor Historiae
Hello, welcome to my art page. heART of HISTORY is my art project that aims to bring lesser known historical figures, novel historical concepts and emotional symbolism into (what is hopefully) a unique expression of our past.
My name is Kiarou, I am an independent hobby artist who digitally paints as a hobby. I am half ethnically Chinese and half American. I’ve been doing digital artwork for nearly three decades now. My tools of the trade are an old & worn Wacom pad and Photoshop CS5 (I’m a bit of a dinosaur, I know).
I used to draw fanart for series such as Digimon, Fire Emblem, or various other media that I found compelling. I’ve worked on some original work as well. But with this new world we’ve entered into of AI art and the over-saturation of lazy consumption, I did a lot of introspection to get at the heart of why I like to paint and more importantly, WHAT do I want to paint. Do I want to spend my time expressing feelings that can be wholly counterfeited and consumed without thought? Instead, I have decided to look into myself and find out what truly excites me, makes me passionate and reconnects me to humans.
I am an engineer by profession, but I have an intense love of history, psychology and philosophy. I am an avid reader and do my best to read (or listen) to at least one or two books a month focused on these topics. I find that these topics all relate heavily to who we are as humans, both in the present and where we’ve been. And what I have learned by studying these precious humanities and reflections of the past is that there are infinite ways to be human. And all of these expressions are a part of the whole and the people of the past, no matter how far, distant or alien they seem---the mechanics that were in them are also in me and you. So within each of us is an incredible range of human expression, some sobering, some salubrious. But I want to express these spectrums in my own way.
When I study history and feel of the wonders that Herodotus saw, or the tragedy and sorrow of those crushed in Taiping Rebellion, I hope to create a painting that can express those same feeling in you. While my art style is not very technically advanced, I hope the thoughtfulness and planning I put into making the compositions and symbolism convey to you the same level of curiosity for our past and the people who lived, suffered and died before us. And in that, come to love a kind of wisdom, though distant and different from our own, is nonetheless as meaningful and useful as anything of axiomatic value today.
So please, come and look around and feel free to ask questions. I will continue to paint, though I am slow (maybe 1 painting a month?), I hope this can spark interest, conversation and that most intrinsic and intractable of all human qualities---curiosity.
