purcc 2012 - University of the Pacific

Senior Art & Design Show – Artist Statements
Alter Ego
Clifton Thammavongsa
Faculty Mentor: Dan Kasser
The artworks for my senior exhibition present
the story of Shaiyo Kiyui, a character I have
been developing for eight years. The drawings
and paintings represent a narrative based in
autobiography and my artistic journey to give
form to the cruel and darker issues in our
society. The premise for Shaiyo’s character is his
internal struggle between his gentle nature and
the pressure and contradictions of society’s
malevolent side. The catalyst of Shaiyo’s
conflict began early in his childhood; society
bullied him.
The external sources, the form and the style of
my paintings are derived and inspired by
selected autobiographical experiences,
contemporary cultural history in America, and
finally comic books and graphic novels where
many of the darker conflicts in society find an
audience.
The continuity between my autobiographical
sources and the construction of my artworks is
derived from my personal involvement in the
martial arts and my interest in the philosophy of
Bruce Lee, expressed through his book Tao of
Jeet Kune Do (1975). Through Lee’s philosophy
I learned to divert and reform my anger and
feelings of victimization through an integrated
lifestyle of physical, mental, and spiritual
wholeness. My artworks are designed to tell that
story in a short hand or short story style.
Presented as comic book and large-scale, black
and white India ink drawings, these works uses
the comic book style to create a condensed and
exaggerated narrative for the story of Shaiyo
Kiyui’s awakening to his inner strength and selfdefense.
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