In a world where art is often seen as a solitary pursuit, Darren and Trisha Inouye have found success by working together as one.
The married couple are an artist duo and have created a series of paintings under the moniker Giorgiko. They're holding their first solo exhibition in Hong Kong at Woaw Gallery until May 25.
The Seed of Peace is itself "an exploration to find peace," said Darren Inouye. "We wish for viewers to look retrospectively at the works and try to find their own peace."
Both born in 1989, the couple first met and started dating at ArtCenter College of Design, when they were still undergraduate students. After graduation, they worked separately for a short period and created their first collaborative work in 2014.
"It started as an experiment in a small show, and just snowballed and became stronger and stronger," he said.
They said working as a duo can make creating art both more difficult and easier.
"It's more difficult because, obviously, we are two different artists," he said, "Sometimes when our ideas don't sync up all the way, one of us has to make compromises."
But most times, they think of it as bliss to be able to work together as artists.
He said: "Trisha can draw something in 30 seconds that would take me an hour, and I can paint while Trisha doesn't enjoy painting. Our strengths are each other's weaknesses."
And they've worked that to their benefit. When they're creating an art piece, she would work with the sketches first and leave him to complete the painting process.
"Of course, we would discuss and agree on the direction for the painting first," said Trisha. "And I'll give him suggestions for how I want the painting to turn out in the end."
Darren said: "We would also have double ideas and double suggestions, so we can really go back and forth and try to figure out creative solutions to problems we come across."
Having established their collaborative process for creating art, the couple draw inspiration from a diverse range of sources including personal experiences, history and faith.
"One thing we want to focus on that kind of glues it all together is the different emotions that people experience," he said.
In their favorite painting, used as the hero image for the exhibition, Judith, a brown-haired girl holds out her little finger for a pinky swear, while crossing her fingers behind her back.
As the title suggests, the painting is inspired by Judas in the Bible.
"I really relate to the character because she's flawed," he said. "She's making promises with every intention of hoping to keep them but at the same time knowing that she has to break the promises."
As the pieces were created during Covid, with lot of anxiety in them, they believe featuring these flawed characters is indeed a "seed of peace."
"A lot of times we feel so much anxiety because we cannot be the person we want to be, and we think we're not perfect," Darren said. "But everyone is flawed, everyone has drawbacks. Realizing that is the beginning of finding peace."
If you want to go on a journey to explore peace, visit The Seed of Peace at Woaw Gallery, Wan Chai, before it ends on May 25.
