Amy Quach
Amy Quach is an “e-girl” who attempts to navigate gaming spaces and environments, finding ways to portray her personal experiences into her body of work, while also attempting to remain approachable and fun. Having turned towards the internet at an extremely young age for not just entertainment, but comfort, the digital has become a place which has heavily influenced her views in relation to the world, other people, and towards herself. Despite the many experiences she’s encountered, her love for the internet and online games will always remain. Tackling paintings alongside everyday objects, sounds, screens, and a questionable amount of sparkles, Amy’s work moves beyond the canvas and into a space that embodies her personal experiences online. She embraces elements of identity which were imposed on her, and then shamed for, with the many components in her work. The over exaggeration of girliness, reference to gaming and meme language, and revealing figures become not just a celebration, but a personalized “fuck-you” to the many comments on females in male dominated gaming spaces. Her artwork is not only a painting but a space to be indulged in similarly to how she indulges in the gaming, and general online world.
Artist Statement
My primary mode of interactions are through the digital, and thus, most of all my influences in my life stem from that. My body of work consists of imposed identities and personalities onto female bodies in the digital world, and more particularly within gaming spaces. It is a topic that I feel cannot be fully avoided and is simply what comes with the world, happening to all individuals in different forms and definitely does extend towards other groups. My practice is an exploration of being an “e-girl” and all personal experiences and feelings that come with it. I choose to detail my personal experiences, navigating a complex relationship of celebrating and criticizing the idea of being an “e-girl”, and coming to terms with the label. Through accepting all things associated with the idea of an e-girl, my body of work is a blatant show of appreciation and celebration of a word used towards me in a primarily negative way. I both celebrate and criticize the assumed genres of different girls on the internet through hyper-feminizing, gaming language, and online meme culture. I believe with how blatant my work has has become, it is a fat middle finger to those who have made me feel shame for simply being a girl. I choose to use physical objects like stickers and streamers and many more to ground people in a sense of reality towards this topic, as well as because the material itself represents a girly nature that many are conditioned to have associated with girls (pink, glitter, toys, crafts, and more.) Alongside the playful elements, I incorporate sound, cords, screens, and other digital and technological elements to connect the work to the internet. These materials make my work not just more approachable but understandable as well in terms of who the work is meant to connect with. I find that the bling of jewels and iridescent film aren’t just a reference to the girly nature of glitter and sparkles, but a reference towards the digital and the materiality of monitors, and other screens.
bark 4 mommy, 31.5 x 32″, sticker, fabric, yarn, rhinestones, glitter, oil, and acrylic on unstretched canvas, 2022
waa~ sparkle, 10×12″, rhinestone, foamboard, stickers, and acrylic on masonite, 2022
Expressing the relationship between a part and a whole, 12×12″, glitter, nailpolish, rhinestones, stickers, and acrylic on wooden panel, 2023
Sub, 70 x 34″, glitter, glue, rhinestones, false lashes, streamers, and acrylic on unstretched canvas, 2022
Dom, 70 x 34″, glitter, glue, rhinestones, streamers, and acrylic on unstretched canvas, 2022
