Erica Hsu's practice revolves around the relationship between the body, the soul, and space. Her paintings resemble a "residual shadow of the soul," employing dynamic, semi-figurative forms to suggest the presence of spirituality within the act of creation. For Hsu, painting is not only a creative process but also an affirmation of existence itself. If reality is an arid and desolate landscape, her work asks how painting might reflect the fullness of the spiritual realm upon the barren ground of the material world.
Serving as the culmination of her artistic inquiry over the past two years, The Last Day explores the atmosphere of an imminent event—capturing the suspended tension of the moment before something irreversible unfolds. Through compositions that hover between stillness and anticipation, the exhibition evokes the subtle tremor preceding revelation, exposing the unrest concealed beneath an outward calm. Hsu adopts the notion of the "last day" as a neutral metaphor for the unknown. Simultaneously charged with fear and hope, the idea carries profound religious associations: it embodies both anxiety toward the future and humanity's imagination of catastrophe. As a projection onto an event yet to occur, the Last Days in the Bible refer to the period preceding the apocalypse—a time whose arrival can never be precisely known, only anticipated through signs and symbols. Throughout the exhibition, recurring motifs such as swords, eyes, and crosses function as visual bridges that weave the narrative together, transforming painting into a poetic response to existential anxiety while inviting viewers to reconsider what "the last day" might signify on a deeply personal level.
Hsu received her BFA from the Taipei National University of the Arts before pursuing an MFA at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London. Her painting Become a Sword When Necessary was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London in January 2024, presenting a poetic visualization of spirituality and inner consciousness. Later that year, in August, she presented four large-scale paintings at HdM Gallery in Beijing, further expanding her exploration of movement and spatial expression in painting and demonstrating the continuing evolution of her artistic practice.