Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Painting
First Advisor
Angela Dufresne
Second Advisor
Jackie Gendel
Third Advisor
Yasi Alipour
Abstract
The process of art-making is a BDSM activity. Painting doesn’t start from the brain. It starts from the hands. Most of the time, painters move through muscle memory, not thought. So, who is in control? I believe there is a higher being—the God of Art. Not a person, not a legend, but something beyond exciting. It loves to see the artist sacrificed, suffering, twisted. It wants something beautiful and painful.
My art practice in the studio is like a BDSM moment in a dungeon. I am the submissive. The god is the one who gives orders. The more I suffer—both in body and mind—the more joy they get from seeing that pain show up on the canvas. I don’t paint because I am free. I paint because I choose to kneel before the God of Art, burning my creativity to please them, again and again.
In this thesis, I write about that experience: how artists are chosen, how pain and desire become one, and why true art doesn’t come from learning, but from being taken.
Recommended Citation
Chen, ShaoQing, "To Stain the Soul" (2025). Masters Theses. 1472.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1472
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.