 |
 |
 | |
|
 (by artist name, ethnicity, media,
theme, or keyword)
|
|
 |
 |
ARTIST ARCHIVE
Chee Wang Ng
male, born in 1961 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Chinese
Statement |
Bio |
Bibliography |
Contact
|
|
Favorable Abundance Infinitely 1999; 48x48; Digital C-Print. Nine (Infinite) gold-fishes (Wealth) (Abundance) swimming down stream (Favorable) with blue carp (Benefit) China. |
Longevity and Serendipity 1998; 48x48; Digital C-Print. The transcendent peaches (Longevity) in the mythical Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the Wests paradise on Mount Kunlun flower once every three thousands year and take another three thousands year to bear fruit. Whoever ate them will bestow with immortality. There are two colorful (Serendipity) plates. |
Wise Beyond His Years 2000, 48x48; Digital C-Print. When Kung Jung (died 208), a 20th generation descendant of Confucius was four years old, his father asked him to pick a pear from the basket. He chose the smallest. Question of his selection, he innocently replied My brothers are all older, they eat more than me. I am small, I dont need much. His father was proud of his young son even at his tender age he is wise, unselfish, have respect and admiration for his elders. |
|
|
|
|
Blessed with Progeny and Wealth 1999; 48x48; Digital C-Print. A green (Status/Wealth) rice bowl with a child (Progeny) chopsticks rest surrounded by peony (Wealth). |
Fulfillment to All Desire 2000; 48x48; Digital C-Print. Persimmons (Matters/All Desire) with a plate of mushroom, ganoderma lucidum believes to be the legendary immortality herb similar in shape to the head of the scepter Joo-i (As You Wish/Fulfillment). |
Four Seasons of Brilliance 1998; 48x48, Digital C-Print. The China Rose (Four Seasons) Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, blossom throughout the year is glowing. This embodies an everlasting brilliance life. |
Themes:
identity and culture
Review:
Chee Wang NG creates large digital photographs and installations. Whereas his images are drawn from the wood block prints of traditional Chinese folk conventions, the artist intends to reassert their form and purposes using technology to update and transcend those recognizable message. Robert Lee, the director of the AAAC, describes his works as "shorn of folk art's naivete, Ng uses "rebus," a way of expressing words with objects whose names resemble those words, to invoke an entire Asian outlook - Nature, mysticism, the I Ching classic, folk religion, family events & family ties. Proverbial motifs are made spiffy, with a social savvy that aims to achieve rapport across racial lines. In his hands ethnicity and difference become an asset." Available research materials on the artist in the AAAC Archives are 5 slides, colored photographs of his works, colored Xerox copies of his drawings and a catalog of the exhibition in which the artist's works were included.
-- Reviewed by Young Park
| |
