How Fine Artist Aesther Chang Spends Her Mornings
Photo Credit: Kimisa H
Morning Rituals is an ongoing interview series exploring the way artists and entrepreneurs spend their mornings.
Our guest today is Aesther Chang, a fine artist based in Brooklyn, NY.
Born in Boston, Aesther received her art training at Maryland Institute College of Art and the New York Academy of Art and currently lives and works in New York City. Aesther’s ethereal drawings and oil paintings offer a subtle and nuanced approach to portraiture that draws inspiration from the Old Masters while challenging traditional forms and aesthetics. Her work has been exhibited at prestigious galleries across the US and Europe, including Numeroventi in Florence.
We asked Aesther to walk us through a typical morning.
What time do you wake up?
I wake up around 5:45 a.m. on a weekday.
What’s the first thing you reach for?
The first thing I reach for is my hair tie. To increase my focus and eliminate distractions, I whip my hair up into a top bun.
Walk us through the rest of your morning.
5:50am – I start the day by drinking a hot cup of lemon tea on an empty-stomach. This re-energizes my body and helps me detox.
6:00am – Then, I get moving. I start with a three mile run outdoors and finish with 30 minutes of dynamic stretching and power yoga.
7:00am – I’m quite low maintenance, so it takes me half an hour max to shower and get ready. My uniform is an all-black lived-in tee and jeans ensemble. If I’m feeling fancy, I throw on a vintage neck scarf. While I’m getting ready, I’ll sometimes have Vivaldi or choral music playing in the background.
7:30am – I’m sensitive to scent, so I like to light a stick of palo santo to cleanse the air and wave that around in the apartment like a crazy person. Breakfast usually consists of tofu scramble and half an avocado topped with a squeeze of lemon, pepper, sea salt, and a drizzle of honey. While I’m eating, I meditate over some reading. I’m currently on the Book of Mark in the New Testament. After I finish, I tune into the podcast The Daily by The New York Times to catch up on news.
9:00am – Most of my research and planning is done the night before so I can jump straight into studio work the next day. In the studio, I start with gestural charcoal drawing exercises to loosen up any tension in my body. Once I have a good flow, I begin diving into more official works.
How does your morning ritual influence your work?
Making art requires my full energy and focus, so a solid morning ritual sets the tone for a productive day. I try my best to carve out three hours of personal morning time. During this time, I choose to cleanse my thoughts and set positive intentions. As Marcus Aurelius once said, “the soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.” We essentially become what we think.
Speaking of work – what are you working on right now?
Photo Credit: Kimisa H
Photo Credit: Kimisa H
Aesther Chang, Fine Artist
Aesther Chang is a fine artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her drawings and oil paintings often depict the spatialpsychological deconstruction and fragmentation of the figure. With a strong focus on craftsmanship, her works take inspiration from Old Masters, yet they challenge the traditional aesthetics of portraiture. Her interest lies in the idea of finding beauty in the dissonance created when the familiar is fractured and distorted. These works explore subtle shifts in value and color, the play between the diaphanous and architectonic, and the linear and ethereal qualities in form. Her evocative works create a crackled tension of unknown space and internal dialect on the canvas, blurring the distinction between fiction and quotation.
How do you spend your mornings?
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