Outline your key research question/core subject
My research field is Contemporary Intimism.
First, what is Intimism?
It was an artistic movement that started in the late 19th-century and early 20th-century and typically involved the depiction of seemingly banal yet personal domestic scenes. In general the paintings would capture personal moments with emotional richness, and often within the confines of warm, inhabited spaces (Liu Peng and contemporary intimism: Drawing emotion from the everyday 2024).
Intimism was most notably practiced by French painters Édouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard.And the "Contemporary Intimism” trend, which first emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, differs from grand narratives or overt drama. It focuses more on warm, emotional, and personal expressions, emphasizing the intimate atmosphere and delicate presentation of emotions in paintings. “The allure of and fascination with the intimate vignettes that make up everyday life have been an ongoing source of inspiration for generations of artists—the way a coffee table or nightstand is arranged, the view from a studio window, the books, plants, and other miscellany that accumulate (or are curated) on a bookshelf (Olsen, Artnet).”
Unlike Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, which sought to record fleeting visual sensations, modern intimists combine observation with emotion, allowing personal narratives and subjective experiences to shape their compositions. Katherine Kuenzli’s article, “Intimacy and the Arts of the Nabis,” highlights how the Nabis movement sought to depict private moments while reconciling sensation with artistic structure. Similarly, Tamar Garb’s “Everyday Intimacies in French Modernism” explores how French modernists positioned the domestic sphere as a central artistic theme, paving the way for today’s artists who continue to explore intimate subjects through contemporary lenses.
Lunch at Le Grand Lamps, Pierre Bonnard, 1899
Madame Vuillard Cousant. Edouard Vuillard, 1895
Introduce your key themes and the specific focus of your research
My practice centers on painting as a way of holding and translating fleeting moments of intimacy. I’ve focused on small-scale works that capture quiet, often overlooked scenes from domestic life: a pair of boots left side by side, a tender moment of showering my dog, or my partner cradling our cat. These subjects might seem minor, but to me, they carry the emotional weight of presence, care, and shared time. Working on unprimed canvas has become increasingly important in this process. I’m drawn to the way pigment sinks into the surface, allowing softness and fragility to emerge—qualities that mirror the themes I explore. While earlier works often relied on photographic references, I now work more intuitively, allowing memory and emotion to guide composition, color, and form. This shift has brought a looseness to my brushwork and a more atmospheric sensibility to the paintings. I see my works not as grand narratives, but as fragments—framed feelings that invite a slower kind of looking. They are rooted in the everyday, but open up a space for reflection on intimacy, cohabitation, and the way domestic objects and gestures can hold meaning.
Outline the relevant contexts and critical debates and how they shape your research and practice
A key context that shapes my research is bell hooks’ book All About Love. Her writing reframes love not as sentiment or romance, but as an ethical practice — a choice rooted in care, attention, and responsibility. This idea deeply influences how I think about painting. For me, to paint is also to love: it’s an act of sustained looking, of giving time and care to something ordinary, something easily overlooked.
“To return to love, to get the love we always wanted but never had, to have the love we want but are not prepared to give, we seek romantic relationships. We believe these relationships, more than any other, will rescue and redeem us. True love does have the power to redeem but only if we are ready for redemption. Love saves us only if we want to be saved.”― bell hooks, All About Love
My research is also informed by Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space. In this book, Bachelard writes about the home as more than an architectural structure — he sees it as a space of imagination, memory, and daydream. He explores intimate places such as corners, attics, nests, and drawers, showing how these small spaces hold traces of our emotional life.For me, this way of thinking connects directly to painting. When I paint a bedroom, a kitchen, or a quiet domestic moment, I’m not just depicting a physical space — I’m evoking what Bachelard calls the “intimate immensity” of the home: the feeling that ordinary spaces can hold infinite emotional depth.
"Indeed, without these 'objects' and a few others in equally high favor, our intimate life would lack a model of intimacy."
Gaston Bachelard
Discuss your methods of research and the processes/media used in your practical artwork
In my practice, research always begins from daily life. I collect small details — photographs, notes, and fragments of conversation — as ways of observing how intimacy exists within ordinary spaces. These moments later become sources for painting, often through collage or quick sketches.
I started working with unprimed small canvases because I wanted to show these moments in a more honest and direct way. Before, I often used photo references and tried to copy the shapes exactly. I changed that approach afterwards; now I paint from memory and focus more on the feelings. My brushstrokes became looser, and the forms became less exact. I stopped trying to make the image look perfect. I paid more attention to the mood, light, and movement. This way of working helped me connect more deeply with the subject.
Discuss how you will develop a specific outcome from your research to include in the Research Festival.
For the Research Festival, I plan to develop an artist book that brings together my photographs, sketches, and small paintings. My practice already begins with collecting — I document daily moments through photos, quick drawings, and fragments of writing. These materials often form the foundation of my paintings, so creating an artist book feels like a natural extension of my process. I was inspired by Peter Doig’s artist book, which combines photographs with reproductions of his paintings. I like how this format reveals the space between lived experience and the painted image — between what is seen and what is remembered. My book will explore that same in-between space. It will weave together intimate images of daily life — my home, my partner, my pets, and domestic corners.
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