Local artist Erin Fei paints the layers of consumption, objectification

Nestled into her small studio space inside Attic 506, Erin Fei layers paint onto her canvases much like she layers meaning into her work. Fei’s work can be shocking upon first glance, but it strikes up a conversation that Fei is ready to have.

Fei’s paintings and sculptures are rooted in the discovery of her experience as an Asian American woman. Through art, Fei expresses this exploration of Asian femininity, objectification and consumption. 

Fei was originally born in Hamilton, New Zealand, and later moved to Virginia when she was four years old. Growing up, Fei did not plan on becoming an artist, but was instead interested in medicine. 

“I started out as sort of a biology [and] chemistry person, took a lot of anatomy classes, volunteered at hospitals and things," Fei said. “And then I just sort of switched over. I took a couple art classes in college. And I was like, 'Oh, wow. I really enjoy this.' And so it's just kind of stuck with me, this interest with the body.”

After deciding to take art seriously, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in studio art in 2020 from the University of Mary Washington and then pursued her Master of Fine Arts in interdisciplinary art from UNC-Greensboro. Fei now teaches painting and drawing classes at UNCG.

Fei’s paintings often blur the lines between human and object, using meat, fragmented bodies and distorted figures to critique the way Asian women have historically been consumed and commodified. 

“I think about food a lot too," Fei said. "Food is really big to me and cultural. Because, growing up I always had Chinese food and from my mom, what she would make, and so I put a lot of food as cultural significance and consumption in my artwork."

Meat, specifically, is something that is very prevalent in Fei’s work. 

“Meat comes up a lot because I think about the Asian woman as also having been once seen as this ornate object or very much objectified,” Fei said. “Meat is both object and animal and human being is also animal.”

Fei also finds a similar fleshy quality in the paint that she works with. The way it moves and accumulates on the canvas, thick and smeared, reminds her of flesh, carrying a visceral presence, she said. 

Her studio space at Attic 506, where she works alongside other artists, is filled with bold paintings and wax-coated sculptures that transform imagery into thought-provoking pieces.

One of her paintings, described by her partner Chris Musina, takes that metaphor to the canvas. The painting includes a classic meat counter mixed with a strip club. 

“I think that one really is a piece where you sort of stop and think about, 'Okay, I can see this sort of, oh, we're comparing this type of meat market with another type of meat market and what does that mean,'” Musina said.

For Fig Hendrick, another Attic 506 artist and UNC-Chapel Hill student, Fei’s work resonates deeply. They said that the way Fei depicts the disconnection from and horror of the body is important. 

“I found it to be very inspiring and she finds the beauty in the macabre and visceral, which is something that I really appreciate in art, and I love what she's doing to capture that,” Hendrick said.

Beyond her studio walls, Fei’s work continues to push boundaries and provoke conversation. Fei hopes that through her art, people stop to think about what they are seeing on the canvas and how that relates to real world issues. With the gore and openness in her work, Fei said she creates a shock moment for the viewer where there is an initial repulsion which can lead to curiosity. 

As Fei continues to paint, sculpt and experiment, her work remains a bold reflection of herself and the world around her — one that demands to be seen, felt and questioned. 

Fei’s work can be found on her website and Instagram page.

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