Meet Thiang Uk | Painter, Artist, & a teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Thiang Uk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Thiang, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?

Looking, listening, and consistency have been the keys to some of my small success thus far. Looking, seeing, and listening to the less obvious noise, and consistently showing up to my studio despite how busy, frustrated and tired I am is what helps my growth and my practice.

Looking is probably the most obvious practice in that I am a painter and I rely heavily on my visual experience, but I also mean a different kind of “looking”. Whether in the Baltimore Museum of Art as a guard ( as I was for a couple of years) or in another artist’s studio, I remain present to the art in front of me. Those moments of looking at the smallest marks, ambiguous decisions, and strangeness is what makes art alive for me. I try to be curious and give my best in this environment, and usually, this is met by some sort of new perspective and inspiration in return. I also try to extend this curiosity to nature as well. Nature is not just a resource and beauty but for me is a place of spirituality. At my best, if I am able to be open and really see a physical object like a painting, then I feel there is something magical in between. I say artworks reward people with patience. Looking in this way has really helped me to ask questions of my paintings at different angles. It’s like bringing little pebbles of ideas into my studio. Not all of the ideas will be applied to my paintings, but perhaps it might be more relevant to my students and other artists that I engage with.

What I mean by listening is more in the sense of listening internally to that inner voice. We can’t shut our eyes these days, there is visual information and content everywhere. Artists’ works and external influences are so accessible, and I love that, but I have to make sure I am always listening to my own voice and responding through my work in a very personal and authentic way.

Lastly, consistency has been a bedrock of my practice. As much as I can make my mind active by looking at artworks,I still have to face up to my paintings in the flesh as much as I can. There is a lot of historical baggage that artists have to face up to but that is part of the beauty of finding our own voice in the ocean of history and current artists. Those noises and baggage only really get quiet when I am painting; paintings demand that you are present and in sync in front of them. However, most of the time I don’t paint when I am in the studio; I draw nonsense, look at artists’ books, play with the studio cat named Chief, and look at my work in progress paintings dreadfully (and bravely once in a while). It’s a ritual and it’s a part of the process that bakes the paintings.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

My sensibility and paintings echo the multiplicity of my experiences: my ancestors’ animism mingling with Christianity, born Burmese national, Chin minority, and now, Asian American. My paintings often explore these themes of identity and belongingness through notions of ancestral memory, animism, metamorphosis, distance, mystery, and the medium of painting itself. My work embeds themes of the Burmese diaspora because that is my journey; my work is an expression of that inner voice mingling with my relationship to the language and material of painting. And through that very personal journey, I think my paintings express very human experiences overall.

I am here because of my resilience and my love for painting, and because of all the people that have supported me one way or another. It’s a constant risk and decision to fully devote my life to art, but it just all comes down to the fact that this is who I am as a person. It’s definitely been an uneasy road but it’s the path that has my name on it; with that said, having an art community that can relate to what I am going through and value my endeavor has been a big fuel.
So many lessons have been learned and many more will come. When it comes to being an artist, I have learned that everyone has a different path even though we are in the same industry, so I am not in the habit of comparing myself to other people’s careers. I have also learned the value of being giving to my art community and maintaining an awareness of what it means to give and receive that investment of care and time (something that I am still working on). I think Art has given me more of myself to myself than any other field could have, and I feel lucky for that. The old saying that loving the process is the key to success is very much true.

Some main challenges are definitely financial since I am an adjunct. My income after student loans, studio rent, etc. is small, but good things take time. That’s not to say I have an easy life, but I try not to dwell on the sad stuff. I love my job as a teacher at Towson University and I love paintings.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am currently based in Baltimore so imagine yourself in Bmore! If they were hungry in the evening, I would take them to Kong Pocha in station North. Kong Pocha is a Korean restaurant that has posters of 90’s Korean musicians, American films like Jaw and Asian film posters on the walls. The next morning, I would force them to come with me to Good Neighbor Cafe in the Hampden neighborhood and spend the rest of the day thrifting and walking through bookstores. Hampden has many restaurants and a great literary themed Cocktail bar, BlueBird Cocktail room. I would also take them to the Inner Harbor area for some good crabcakes and seafood, and to see the harbor. Although my knees are not as young, If they wanted to go dancing, I would take them to the Crown as that’s where the artsy types mostly hangout. And of course, I would take them to the Baltimore Art Museum and Walters Museum and the art galleries in Baltimore!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I would like to say thank you to Ye Xuanlin for mentioning me to Shoutout LA and thanks to ShoutoutLA for including me in this series. I would like to shout out to my academic mentors over the years; to High School Art teacher Jennifer Allen Sorese and Bryce Hammond at Daytona beach who took me under his wings during my early 20s, Bruce Porter from my Hunter days, Stephen Ellis who has helped me so much and Joan Waltemath, whose lectures helped me widen my understanding of paintings. I also want to thank Skowhegan Residency Folks of 2023 for such an amazing experience: from staff, faculty, peers, and to former director Sarah Workneh. I also would like to shout out to my partner Sarah Dunn who always supports me, the gallery that unfortunately closed recently, Catalyst Contemporary, and big shout out to my Baltimore art community that has really made me feel welcome since my move in 2019, including artists Caroyln Case, Amy Boone-McCreesh, Jerrell Gibs, and curator Thomas James.

Website: https://www.thiangukart.com/

Instagram: Thianguk