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Zoe Anna

Moss

THAILAND

Yellow and Black Photography Quote (1).p

"My art answers the question: if you are in your twenties and a recovering alcoholic, what else can you do to get messy?"

Zoe Anna Moss is a self-taught abstract painter and photographer originally from Australia who now lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand. While art was never an important form of expression for Zoe during her childhood and through her teenage years, it still followed her and patiently waited for her, like a fairy godmother.

Enchantment, a beautiful, wildly untamed forest at first, mysterious and foreboding. But some force draws you closer. The darkness in the background slowly disappears as you watch the forest come to life, the beauty and magic unfolding from within.

She finally did embrace it, however, fully exploring its potential when mental health and sobriety challenges arose. She then embarked on an artistic journey to understand herself and her emotions.

Now, almost 18 months sober, she has sold over fifty pieces worldwide and continues to grow her base clientele. One collection finished and another just beginning, she is quickly establishing herself as an artist to watch out for.

She is so influenced and inspired by Picasso that she has even named her dachshund after him!

Zoe’s landlord describes her as having "pure talent," and her mother describes her ability as "amazing" and "completely natural."

Not formally educated in art, she believes life and experience have been the greatest teachers.

Now, almost 18 months sober, she has sold over fifty pieces worldwide and continues to grow her clientele. With one collection finished and another beginning, she is establishing herself as an artist to watch out for.

Her multiple-piece sets are a combination of chaos and order. She structures and develops the base foundation through measurement and design.

These sculptures are about the human race and the energy that connects us all as one. I peel away any aspects that would invite stereotyping by shaping human bodies into stylized abstracted beings faceless and genderless, this way each piece is no one and everyone as We Are One. "By creating a highly texturized surface, light bounces off the surface and at the same time travels through each sculpture, creating glowing beings."

Instead of shoving my emotions down to that once very full pit in my stomach, I throw paint. Paint lets me explore this world inside me that I've never been able to balance or even understand.

These sculptures are about the human race and the energy that connects us all as one. I peel away any aspects that would invite stereotyping by shaping human bodies into stylized abstracted beings faceless and genderless, this way each piece is no one and everyone as We Are One. "By creating a highly texturized surface, light bounces off the surface and at the same time travels through each sculpture, creating glowing beings."

When it comes to painting, she is free. She does what she feels in that moment. The pieces can be either combined or separated. She loves the options these dimensions offer as a result. When spaced out, the gaps are filled in with the flow and the viewer’s own imagination, creating a different experience for everyone. Not only unique but unique to each, every time.

I’m in the snow, in a rush, and I don’t dry my hair properly before leaving the house. It’s a beautiful night, and I feel the snow flurries landing on the tip of my nose as I walk to the bus. I step on. The doors close. I grab my frozen hair and crack it in half.

She also uses spray paints, watercolours (often mixing acrylic watercolour), and whatever else she can put together. It’s a bit of everything sometimes, but that is her method. It comes together in the end and is always how she envisioned it.

Being your own hero means being able to love, accept, and validate yourself. For the last year and a half, I’ve practiced building self-confidence every day. I will never forget the moment six months ago when I finally smiled back at myself in a mirror for the first time. Was I being full of myself? Was it ego? Or was I smiling at the fact that my hair tied up looked like a pineapple, and so I shook it a few times and sang in my "deep voice," "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" Pineapple Zoe!"

Her techniques range from pouring, splattering, and Jackson Pollock-types to recyclable plastic cups dipped in paint and left to drip down canvases.

Heat. You feel a bubbling rise in your chest when the person you desire is about to kiss you. You’re looking at the ground. Your hands are fidgeting. You start to wonder how your body knows to breathe while kissing. Then you worry you’ll breathe through your mouth while kissing into their mouth and isn’t that CPR? You realize you haven’t said anything for five minutes, and you look up, but their eyes are still locked on you eagerly. So you learn to breathe underwater.

Zoe is influenced and inspired by Picasso, as she finds his work to be quirky, just like herself.

Stopped at a traffic light. I look out the window and see a chihuahua in a basket on the front of a motorbike, wearing a helmet, goggles, and boots. If that’s not a source of inspiration, then I don’t know what is.

Now, almost 18 months sober, she has sold over fifty pieces worldwide and continues to grow her clientele. With one collection finished and another just beginning, she is quickly establishing herself as an artist to watch out for.

I’ve been overly loved by mosquitos as long as I can remember. Every time I mention it, my mother replies comically on point: "Just be grateful something is attracted to."

To put it differently, painting to her is sort of like the "sport" or "gym" teacher comment on a school report card. Comes in at the end, is encouraging, rewarding, the highest grade and somehow makes all the fails (in life or English, mathematics and science) seem not so bad.

Does a bear spit in the woods? Maybe, or maybe he spits in front of Barney’s house. Barney blames his dog. The bear is peaking over at this from the woods nearby smirking and giggle laughing like a maniac. Oh, you impulsive bear.

“Painting to me is sort of like the sport or gym teacher comment on a school report card…”

Zoe Anna Moss

'@artbyzoeannamoss

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