We recently connected with Tao Hong and have shared our conversation below.

Tao, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Currently, I have not yet been able to fully support myself through my art in the United States, but that is my goal and part of my “American Dream.” I believe that with my rich life experiences and a strong desire to create, I will be able to produce artworks that genuinely resonate and reflect the spirit of our times.

Though I am still working towards this goal, I have made some significant progress. I have devoted a lot of time and energy to enhancing my artistic skills and expanding my audience. I have participated in various art exhibitions, promoted my work through social media and art communities, and continuously explored new creative techniques and forms of expression to keep my work fresh and unique.

Looking back, I think if I had realized the importance of social media and online platforms for promoting art earlier, I might have been able to advance my art career more quickly. Also, building a broader network of artists could have helped me gain important exhibition opportunities and collaborations sooner.

In summary, although I have not yet fully realized my goal, I am hopeful for the future. I believe that as long as I continue to work hard, maintain my passion for art, and stay sensitive to life, I will eventually be able to achieve my “American Dream” through my creations.

Tao, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

my name is Tao Max. I am a new immigrant from China, raised in an artistic family with my father being a painter and my first mentor in the art world, profoundly shaping my worldview and attitude towards art.

After eight years of study at the China Academy of Art, I received rigorous traditional art training and expanded my artistic horizons by exploring a wide range of art forms. After graduating, I taught painting at the Nanjing University of the Arts for a long time, while also founding my own interior design company in the bustling city of Shanghai. Every step has deeply reflected my love and experience with both art and life.

Over time, my desire to explore more pure and direct forms of artistic expression grew, leading me to the United States. Here, I found that my diverse experiences are closely connected to each spark of creative inspiration.

Currently pursuing an MFA in San Francisco, I aim to use art not only to express myself but also to explore and present the complexities of life. My journey is a continuous pursuit of painting and a deep exploration of the connection between the individual and the world. I look forward to engaging with a wider world through my art, sharing insights that can only be understood through personal experience.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My story began the moment I set foot in the United States, initiating a new challenge and a journey of self-discovery. Just like many others people today, whether actively or passively, we are all swept into the currents of this era, experiencing a cycle of moving from the familiar order to the unknown chaos(Hundun Chinese traditional concept), then gradually finding a new order and means of self-expression. Resilience has become the most crucial quality for survival, enabling me to face numerous difficulties and continuously learn and adapt.

As an immigrant with a background as a university teacher and interior designer, my inner desire for artistic expression and my doubts and confusion about my life propelled me to leave my familiar environment and come to the United States to pursue my dream of art. First, the experience of immigrating from China to the United States confronted me with a new world—a transition from order and familiarity to the unknown and chaos. Professionally, I underwent a transformation from a teacher and designer to an artist, which was not only a change in roles but also a profound renewal in my way of thinking and knowledge structure. Like most new immigrants to the United States, the first challenge I faced was the language and cultural differences, which turned simple issues into complex and difficult ones. Frustration, anxiety, and loneliness became not just concepts but realities I had to face every day. However, this also made Normal becomes abnormal, familiar becomes unfamiliar. and things take on different states and meanings, making these concepts the subject of my research and creation.

Resilience is the key to facing continuous changes and challenges on my artistic and life journey. It is a will to survive, a mental capacity to bear, and the ability to adapt to new environments. Especially, for me, It is also a methodology in my thinking and artistic creation, allowing me to stretch and expand my existing knowledge, experience, and understanding structure to adapt to a rapidly changing world. This enables me to more rationally and profoundly understand and analyze the phenomena of the era I am in, to reassess, integrate, update, and reconstruct my perception methods and knowledge system.

My experiences living in the United States have shown me that resilience is a precious quality. It has helped me broaden my thinking, combining past knowledge and experiences with new environments, better understanding, and describing new problems. This ability has allowed me to adapt to new environments better , interpreting current issues from a fresh perspective.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My creative journey is guided by a clear goal: to explore the chaos (HUNDUN=chaos+mass, the chinese concept) and order of life through art, along with personal positioning and self-discovery within this process. Confronting the challenges of a new environment, I’ve navigated through confusion, disorder, loneliness, pressure, and anxiety. These challenges are not only personal problems to overcome but also central themes in my artistic expression.

This journey has prompted a shift from tr
Practical design thinking to a more liberated and exploratory artistic creation. Venturing back into the unknown chaos(HUNDUN), through the process,I can discover the inherent huge power and different meaning in the primal state of things. Practical aspects of interior design such as space, shape, and material have now transformed into abstract forms, colors, lines, and pictorial structures. Where I once used rulers and numbers to construct objects on a plane, I now use brushes and colors to leave marks on time and space. I strive to build my own language system, showcasing the unique power of two-dimensional spaces to display observation and experience.

To me, art transcends the pursuit of aesthetics; it represents a journey of the soul. In my tumultuous life journey, I aim to capture the unrest within through my work and find my place. Resilience has become the pillar supporting my continuous exploration and expression, driving me to seek innovation and define my place in this complex world.This creative path is a journey of constant learning and introspection, aimed at communicating my deep connection with the world through art. This communication not only deepens my understanding of myself but also allows me to share my insights and experiences with the audience. As the external world changes, I continually adjust my self-perception and understanding, making this ongoing exploration and innovation the core force propelling my artistic journey forward.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: tmax00009

Image Credits
Person iphone, these photos are my own works.include earlier interior design and recently paintings and drawings.