Home - Hayley Chiu

Passing by

oil on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Mr. & Mrs. Cheng

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2022

Commission.

Pond activities

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2022

I like to think about the fun I’d have if I were a tiny being. I painted my cozy pot of whorled pennyworts in a little goldfish planter, but huge. Thinking about how fascinating that would be if these leaves were as big as my face and growing in a pond, if the painted goldfish was a real goldfish swimming between the long, waving stems of the plants.

Looking for the minibus

oil and projection on acrylic sheet, 18" x 24", 2022

Looking for the minibus

oil on acrylic sheet, 18" x 24", 2022

Painting only.

Entry 3 (locked)

oil and projection on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Part of "Diary entries of a girl" series.

Entry 3

oil on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Part of "Diary entries of a girl" series.

Entry 2 (locked)

oil and projection on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Part of "Diary entries of a girl" series.

Entry 2

oil on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Part of "Diary entries of a girl" series.

Willow

oil on canvas panel, 8" x 10", 2022

Part of "like WaTer" diptych.

Teresa

oil on canvas panel, 8" x 10", 2022

Part of "like WaTer" diptych.

Entry 1 (locked)

oil and projection on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Part of "Diary entries of a girl" series.

Entry 1

oil on canvas, 10" x 10", 2022

Part of "Diary entries of a girl" series.

Ordinary romance II

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2022

Cola II

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2022

Commission.

Everybody wants to play

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2021

Inspired by the loud, lively, and sometimes even chaotic nature of mahjong.

11 years of Saturday mornings

oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2021

Chinese school played a big part in my life for 11 years, teaching me about my culture and language. I’m very grateful for it now, but I remember I used to hate it because I was upset at how early I had to wake up on the weekends for it, while everybody else slept in. The blurry alarm clock over a worksheet where I practised writing my name over and over again, shaping my identity with every stroke.

Camouflage (Who am I fooling?)

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2021

It’s common for those of us born or raised in Western countries to feel the need to reject our own cultures to fit in, hoping they won’t notice the difference in our facial features and the colour of our skin. The use of two different camouflage patterns represents this self-deception, a desperate yet futile attempt to disguise ourselves.

Trim

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2021

Cutting my hair as a ritual of self care.

"Paco" and other short stories

acrylic on raw canvas, 11" x 11", 2021

I flipped through the pages of my old math notebook and enjoyed the different compositions of numbers, text, and diagrams. Whether or not the answers were correct was besides the point. The magnified image, the texture of the fraying canvas, and cut off numbers and words remove the piece from its context, allowing us to see the compositions for what they are rather than equations.

Dreamers

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2021

The feeling of entering a dream, one body becoming two.

Mid-autumn's moon

oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2021

Green globs

oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2021

Perseids

oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2021

Self portrait without glasses

oil on canvas, 6" x 8", 2021

Portrait of myself without glasses. I don't really know what that looks like, so...take it with a grain of salt!

Chi Ling

oil on canvas, 11" x 14", 2021

Commission.

Partial solar eclipse

oil on canvas, 6" x 8", 2021

Mahjong (study)

oil on canvas, 6" x 8", 2021

Memory of orchids (study)

oil on canvas, 6" x 8", 2021

Shrimp (study)

oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2021

Ordinary romance

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2021

It was refreshing to see this picture of my grandparents when their love was still in bloom. I imagine that their carefree was soon smothered by responsibility. The hand holding and flowers morphed into pushing my grandpa’s wheelchair for long distances in 30º+ weather so he could eat his favourite food, not sending him to a senior’s home even when he was troublesome. The actions may have changed form, but I know the love was still there.

Hayley's_20th_Birthday

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2021

Titled the same way my parents named my birthday pictures when I was younger. I forget when birthdays began to lose their spark, and when they were replaced with a mysterious dread. The fact that I feel this way upsets me more than the dread itself, but I prefer keeping that to myself.

The Earth, the Moon, and the Selenites

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2021

Part of "Falsehoods" series. The moths are being unwittingly, but happily, deceived by their fake moon, and I wonder about how important the knowledge of this is, or the lack thereof in this case. Would it be better or worse if they knew that the thing they pursued could never be attained?

Embrace

oil on canvas, 8" x 10", 2021
Part of "Falsehoods" series. We allow warm showers to substitute for social warmth, even though it bears no resemblance to actual human affection. Unlike the moths from the first painting who were oblivious to their trickery, we are fully aware of ours.

Party on Tai Mo Shan

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2021

A painting based on a digital collage of pictures I took in Hong Kong. It depicts a scene that I often saw when hiking on Tai Mo Shan, a happy memory that me and my family share. I didn’t think much of it until I realized this scene is just a memory now, so I preserved it by creating a painting of what the scene was like in my head, with a comic and lighthearted feeling that even photographs wouldn’t be able to capture.

Piggy

oil on canvas, 6" x 8", 2021

Summer heat

acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48", 2021

A painting of a maquette created from objects found around my house that reminded me of the past summer; a feeling of laziness and time slipping by creating a warped, surreal experience from the maquette’s varying materiality.

Joyride

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2021

School

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2020

Commission. I originally painted this in high school for a still life project. It turned out really nice, but I didn't get a good grade on it because it didn't follow still life criteria.

Grandpa's garage

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2020

I used to visit Hong Kong frequently with my mom so we could spend more time with my grandpa. When I think of him, I can’t help but also think of the city that I have associated so much with happiness, warmth, and family, and really miss how things used to be.

Spotless mind

oil on canvas, 24" x 30", 2020

I felt frustrated and divided over many things. I missed when I wasn’t concerned with much; my mind undisturbed, like a fresh blanket of snow on a winter morning. Ignorance is bliss.

Cola

oil on canvas, 11" x 14", 2020

Commission.

To the end and back

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2020

Peering into the compost bin lies a gloomy arrangement of wilted daffodils and discarded eggshells. With perennial flowers and the imagery of eggs, a symbol of rebirth, we realize that this is not an end, simply a cycle. It’s never the end of the world!

Luke

oil on canvas, 11" x 14", 2020

Commission.

Make a wish

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2020

I made this when I was feeling really down, afraid of what’s going to happen next. I felt alone, missing the touch of another person, desperately grasping for hope. Constantly making wishes that it would all magically go away.

"Out of the Dark" (study)

oil on canvas, 6" x 8", 2020

Such a fun movie!

Jook-sing

oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2020

Growing up in Canada, I didn’t feel Canadian because I was so in love with Hong Kong, where my parents came from. But being Canadian nonetheless, I was different from them, but I didn’t really live the typical “Canadian experience”, either. I feel like a plate of cheung fun with maple syrup poured over it… some strange fusion dish that’s not authentically either cultures, or in proper terms, jook-sing. (I bet cheung fun with maple syrup would taste pretty good, though!)