About See See Kwan

I've been making art since I could hold a crayon. And yes, my parents enabled me, because I drew all over the walls and furniture. I would enter into coloring contests and win $5 at Lucky's Supermarket in the early 90s. Around the same time, my older sisters taught me how to read in English. In 7th grade, I entered a "no smoking" contest, drawing smoke coming from a cigarette that transformed into a human skull; I won runner up and look back realizing it was probably too macabre for first place. I got a 7 in IB Art and sold my first painting for $250 in high school. I was 18 when I decided to go to UCLA's School of Arts and Architecture because the private art schools I got into didn't give me enough yearly scholarship money, and UCLA's art program has a 5% acceptance rate, so it had to be good right? I sold a painting for $500 to my professor Derek Boshier's partner during a critique in his painting class. I got my B.A. in Fine Arts March 2006. That summer I started a six month tattoo apprenticeship. The tattoo industry looked a lot different than what it is today (saving that story for a blog post).

I worked in tattoo shops from 2007-2011, and 2015 to 2018, and now run my own private studio from 2019 to present day. My 4 yr hiatus from tattooing was due to near death health complications which disabled me from tattooing. It was a life changing experience that recalibrated my priorities with a renewed ideology on work-life-balance and self care. Health is number one. During my hiatus, I continued to make art and learned computer applications specifically for designing product packaging.

Having my own private studio was the ultimate game changer in my tattoo career. I am so grateful for the continued support of my clients and followers. I am so lucky!

I am second generation Hong Kong American. I've lived and worked as an artist along the Pacific coast —Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, and ultimately love the Bay Area best since moving here in 2012 to be closer to my family. My ancestors are from Canton, China (South) but since the cultural revolution in China, they fled to Hong Kong in the 1950s.

My great great grandfather arrived to Angel Island as a Chinese immigrant in 1907. My grandfather arrived in Chinatown SF 1947; he was separated from his family due to immigration laws which only allowed Chinese men to work in the states. Eventually reunited, my grandma, dad, and uncle are my Bay Area roots. I owe everything to my ancestors and their hard work to provide me the opportunity to live the life I have now.

In 2024, I was artist/production lead for, "The (Middle Path) Bridge (Between Heaven and Earth)", funded (50%) in part by Burning Man as an honoraria project; a project that highlights the mysterious impermanence of life, a 75 ft lumber bridge standing 18 ft tall in the middle of Black Rock Desert. Building it with my crew re-calibrated my life as an artist. I am inspired to create more interactive architectural installations (definitely need a break though!).

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