While each situation is different, Asian parents are traditionally known to be quite authoritative in their parenting styles. This is partially due to an emphasis in Asian culture on parental control and academic and professional achievement. Many Asian parents place pressure on their children to become doctors or lawyers, and rarely are Asian children encouraged to pursue more artistic endeavors. Even if Asians achieve their versions of success in creative arts, it is still often looked upon with negative connotations.
Many Asian parents believe that careers in writing, fashion, acting, or art can be risky due to their subjective nature, making the children apprehensive about chasing their dreams. However, many studies show correlations between creativity and happiness.
For Filipino-born artist Sean Go, connecting with his creative side after a successful finance career is what ultimately brings color to his life, pun intended.
Now based in New York City, Go’s powerful art embodies natural dichotomies in the modern zeitgeist, through his challenging of capitalist standards and questioning identity. However, before embarking on his creative journey, Go worked in finance at some of the world’s most esteemed financial institutions — such as Ernst and Young, HSBC, Techstars Venture Capital, Singapore’s OCBC Bank, and Grant Thornton. He even founded a hedge fund/venture fund in 2018. Having taken companies from Series A rounds to D, Go’s fortuitous luck or some may say ability in overcoming seemingly impossible odds has taken a twist in entering the artistic hemisphere.
It is indeed rare to transition from such an illustrious career in finance to one as an artist, but Go’s remarkable journey defies the odds. Growing up in the Philippines around a rich artistic environment, there were still expectations for Go to be successful in academics. Go remembers being banned from playing video games and watching TV after failing to reach high honors in high school for an entire semester. Now, Go’s extensive education influences his artistic vocabulary. Ironically, it is these banned games like Pokemon, Marvel, and Halo that fuel his artistic arsenal. As he has 7 degrees in total, 4 Master’s degrees and 3 undergraduate degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Columbia, Emory, and UC Berkeley, Go loves to combine his past lives in the form of intelligent spoofs of consumer psychology, cultural hegemony, and capitalist critiques. Go thrives on developing multiple skillsets and channeling his creativity through paintings, sculptures, editioned prints, and in rare cases, modeling for art activation spaces such as the Museum of Art and Design in New York City.
As a full-time, New York City-based artist, Go now pays homage to his Filipino roots while bringing light to what it is like to be an immigrant in America. One of his pieces that examines the relationship between his background and the quintessential American dream is “Frozen Kalesa.” The Kalesa is the local carriage in the Philippines, and it features vibrant colors that are reminiscent of the Spanish colonial era. Elsa, a popular character from the children’s movie Frozen, is at the front of the carriage, bringing about thought-provoking questions to the viewer. Is she taking on too much responsibility, or is she happy with her responsibilities as a princess?
Go is passionate about looking to artists of the past to find answers for the future. One of Go’s inspiration sources is Salvador Dali, who pioneered the entire surrealism movement. Surrealism is about looking inward, with dreamlike states that depict magical madness that exists in your head. The beauty of it is that fiction can teach us about reality – as V said in V for Vendetta, artists can use lies to tell the truth. Go’s surreal takes include the Garden of Eden, which depicts the traditional motifs of pleasure and sin with a psychedelic edge in a world with flying candy, Elephants transforming into candy bars, and gummy bears that are the size of mountains.
In Go’s “Bittersweet Memories” series, the piece titled “You’ll be in my Cake” tells the story of tough love. Kerchak, the gorilla father of Tarzan, is tough on the outside, but sweet and caring within. In the piece, tough love is portrayed with Kerchak on a rocky road chocolate cake. Go also enjoys making fun of Disney characters while including social commentary in the work. “Les ?Demoiselles D’isney” is an appropriation piece that blends Picasso’s most iconic piece with classical Disney princesses, juxtaposing old with new.
Religion too is something that influences Go’s works a lot, because it is full of parables, statutes, and stories that illustrate the complexity of temptation and sin, as well as themes of redemption and grace. Go says that “Religion can be inspiring, confusing, or even infuriating at times, especially when we stop self-selecting what we want to hear but analyze scripture more deeply. Artists from the Greco-Roman times and in the renaissance, as well as Spanish conquistadors and Filipino national artists love to depict Christian stories, and so I am paying homage to all these artists when I make art myself. Because religion is charged with personal experiences, it is a compelling subject of interest.” Go hopes to respectfully tease out some of the deeper questions that worship brings, but not in a disrespectful way like Chris Ofili who painted “The Holy Virgin Mary” with elephant dung. At the end of the day, scripture lends itself to various interpretations, just as textualists and modernists interpret the US constitution using different lenses. To Go, “the possibilities and indefiniteness of answers is compelling in pursuing art.”
While Go is spearheading the pop art movement for Filipinos, he also hopes to be an example of how pursuing your passion and interests can be rewarding, even if the risks are high and there is uncertainty in pursuing the creative arts. For Go, he is a case study of how many born into educated families often prioritize stability over career fulfillment. This is not to say that jobs traditionally in accounting, banking, or consulting are unsatisfying, but that for the next generation, they should be able to choose the path that they want, without being pigeonholed into existing subsets that are predetermined. This idea of predetermination and choice, and the infinite possibilities of flipping the script is apparent in Go’s work from his Mouselander piece to his Biblical Expressions series.
Go’s artwork is in the end, delightful and optimistic. His works have this youthful bent and hopeful energy that aims to open the world of opportunity. As Go continues to push boundaries in the art world and beyond, be sure to visit his website, online store, Instagram, and Twitter to explore his work or learn about upcoming exhibitions.
