Stephanie Ong is an artist living and working in Tampa, FL. Her work is a form of visual communication, expressing that which is left unsaid. Working primarily in paint, she uses color and movement to create an abstract balance between development and completion. Ong’s paintings reflect an interest in the layers that go into interpretation, focusing on what gets lost, reinterpreted, and adapted in conversation. Her newest body of work on exhibit in ‘Circa’ relates to thoughts about our relationship to time and historical events that impact and shape our lives.
Ong has exhibited in solo and group shows in Florida, Nashville and New York City. She currently works out of her studio on Davis Islands.
My paintings are conversations, floating around on a thought or a lingering image. When I paint, I'm looking for the "fix" in a way. That moment when all things line up. It is not necessary a "perfect" moment. Actually, it's never a "perfect" moment. It's the raw moments I like to paint. The ones that you can smell later, that flicker in your mind when you are nodding off. The ones that burn in your memory, like the way that Noxzema feels on a sunburn. I am influenced heavily by nature; the patterns in nature, the lines, the flow.
Life cycles play a significant role in my paintings as well; who we are, how we got to be in the particular places we are in now, who was here before us, and the interconnectivity of these things. My method of painting mirrors my influences- I paint in layers. While my work tends to be quite colorful, it is the interaction between colors and light, rather than the hues, that actually inspire me. My composition and color choices evolve as the conversation in the painting evolves.
Using oil and acrylic paint, gold leaf and other medium, I work on both paper and canvas. I typically paint several paintings at once, giving each a chance to pause before digging back in.