Meihua, pronounced as May-Hwa, means "beautiful birch" in Mandarin. I signed Doriane on my work occasionally due to my favorite character in a novel of Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
I studied advertising and visual arts at Boston University. Currently, I am pursuing a Master's degree in Communication Management at the University of Southern California.
I have started studying art since I was 6, beginning with Chinese traditional painting "xieyi." Thus, the philosophy behind it was implanted in my right brain and shaped my aesthetics.
Orchid, Chinese Traditional Painting, 2009
As I grew up, I moved on to western drawing techniques, like pencils and charcoal. I enjoyed black and white but was confused about the tricky transition from colors into different degrees of grey. Therefore, watercolor became another medium I love to play with, reminding me of Chinese traditional painting particularly; and I love the texture that left by water evaporation. I did not stop trying new art styles after I left my country for my undergraduate studies. I learnt oil painting and lithography during my study at Boston University; consequently, they brought in brand new aspects to my artworks.
I had paintings exhibited in Germany and Japan when I was little. I have produced two collections of artworks with several friends, however, in high school, and sold those collections to raise money for charity.
In my academic life, I skipped two grades in primary school. Growing up with friends older than me to a great extent helped me learn to think in a relatively comprehensive way. Thus, I become an open-minded person who loves creative thinking and coming up with multiple solutions to one question. I learnt how to utilize my ability by taking creative classes and when to be judgmental to my ideas by learning marketing strategy and consumer insights.
I would rather not to flatter myself as either an art person or a creative one, because, as Oscar Wilde once wrote, " to define is to limit."
For business inquiries, please contact meihua.lai@usc.edu or use the following form.
"What of Art?
-It is a malady.
--Love?
-An Illusion.
--Religion?
-The fashionable substitute for Belief.
--You are a skeptic.
-Never! Skepticism is the beginning of Faith.
--What are you?
-To define is to limit.”
--Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
