Tang Contemporary Art is delighted to announce the solo exhibition of post-90s Hong Kong artist Jade Ching-Yuk Ng, titled “Echo of Silhouettes.” This exhibition will take place at the Beijing Headquarters Space on March 2nd, 2024. This marks Jade Ching-Yuk Ng's second solo exhibition at Tang Contemporary Art. Curated by Fiona Lu, the showcase will feature a collection of over ten captivating paintings and woodcut works by the artist, highlighting her latest artistic endeavors.
Jade Ching-Yuk Ng consistently engages in the creation of paintings and woodcut works centered around the reconstruction of concrete, human figures. Her artworks delve deep into the complexities of gender contradictions, the nuances of identity perception, and experiences beyond the commonplace. Distinguishing itself from previous exhibitions, this showcase sees the artist placing a heightened emphasis on the experiential aspects of the female “self.” Striving to create distance from grand narratives, the artist intentionally immerses herself in a profound exploration of individual life, attentively lingering in the abundant observations of personal existence. Through artful mismatches of objects, subtle and gradual homogeneous transformations, and the interplay of silhouettes, objects, and the human body, the exhibition masterfully unfolds the contest and coexistence between female strength and innocence. “Echo of Silhouettes” can be contemplated as an exploration of the dualistic perspectives of soul and body, extending beyond the realms of life and death into dreamlike scenarios, thus embodying the potential for multiple expressions of the self. In Jade Ching-Yuk Ng's creations, the potency of the female form intertwines seamlessly with an atmosphere of openness, giving rise to a distinct symbolic expression that reflects intricate complexities and the magnetic allure of individuality.
In the context of art history, contemporary art, and autobiography, Jade Ching-Yuk Ng seamlessly interweaves gender and narrative in her works, presenting a dynamic interplay and mutual transformation. From a unique perspective, she reveals a myriad of possible interpretations, illustrating a transformative journey. This transformative journey begins with a departure from conventional female gender norms, transitions into a reflective phase, and culminates in the amalgamation of diverse identities into a kaleidoscopic self. The conflicting reflections of individuality and identity evoke profound contemplation on the contemporary ideal of femininity. Jade Ching-Yuk Ng references the impact of 20th-century French fashion illustration on her, tracing it back to second-wave feminism at that time. In the current era, as one embraces the legacy of these movements, articulating female self-experience appears to pose a new and intricate challenge.
As an Asian artist, Jade Ching-Yuk Ng has spent a considerable amount of time living and studying in various locations abroad. Born in Hong Kong, a region shaped by the dynamic interplay of Eastern and Western cultures, she has been profoundly influenced by a rich tapestry of cultures, including those of Central Asia, Italy, Israel, and various Western traditions. In her artworks, she seamlessly juxtaposes scenes she has collected from her chosen locations, constructing a form of identity exploration within the context of globalization known as “Hyperkulturalität” (Hyperculturality). This challenges conventional identity definitions, revealing the limitless freedom of individual identity. Within this cultural paradigm, the artist scrutinizes the authenticity of identity, and the intricate symbolism in her artwork alludes to the unresolved nature of self-experience.
In her recent works, Jade Ching-Yuk Ng employs a more metaphorical palette, deftly unraveling the intricacies of spatial manipulation and interplay to elucidate the construction of space, movement, and time. Within this intricate interweaving of three dimensions, silhouettes metamorphose into a form of “ek-stasis (outside-itself),” projecting the self outward. The artist purposefully orchestrates the separated multiple subjects to construct a fresh reality that transcends the subject's lived experience and fragmented identity. While this novel reality may not exude an idyllic charm, it signifies a divergence from the echoes of the past, unfurling novel possibilities for understanding the female “self.”
Artists
Jade Ching-Yuk Ng
Jade Ching-Yuk Ng was born in Hong Kong, 1992. Now she works and lives in London. Ng exemplifies life experience as the main material, combined with different symbolic visual vocabularies, so as to find the gap between reality and virtuality. She has worked on various mediums to challenge the possibilities of creating paintings beyond paints. She depicts the fragility of a physical intimate relationship between herself and others. She is drawn to the sensibility of constant touches and separation among us. By reinterpreting traditional forms of symbolism, her work creates a new, ambiguous and obscure fiction. Ng's work craves attention of our loneliness, intimacy and emptiness in today's hyper-realistic world. Her theatrical work is a constant conversation between her inner self and the others to observe the fine edge of collision in reality and imagination.
Her soft, intricate works emboss the fragility of a physical intimate relationship between herself and others. Jade is interested in quoting the essence of touch and separation at a moment in time to depict a notion of loneliness, intimacy and emptiness. By exploring the possibilities of forms in painting, Jade conceives of her paintings as an assembly of her and others' body puzzles. Often revolving around personal travel experience, classical myth, alchemy, religious rituals and anatomy as references, Jade deconstructs their symbolism by attaching her own interpretation, and her symbols seem to depart from their literal connotations into an obscure and ambiguous fiction. The agency of framing becomes a gesture of embracing, defining actual and pictorial surrealistic space. The essence of modernist architecture influences how she constructs and adds odds to her composition in the picture. She develops them into printmaking, painting, sculptural painting and the most recent cut-outs and wood reliefs. Its theatricality encourages visitors to consider characters that are depicted in dialogue with themselves, whilst also considering the fine edge of collision in reality and imagination.
Ng obtained her BA at Slade School of Fine Art in 2016 and MA at Royal College of Art in 2018. She is a recipient of Cass Art Painting Prize in 2016 and Travers Smith Art Award in 2018. She was awarded the Abbey Major Painting Scholarship by the British School at Rome in 2018. Her work was commented on and published by art historians Katy Hessel and Kate Mothes respectively. She worked at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2014. Her work has exhibited internationally, such as Arusha Gallery (London; Edinburgh, UK), Matt’s Gallery (London, UK), San Mei Gallery (London, UK), Cornucopia Gallery (London, UK), Whitechapel 46 (London, UK), Siegfried Contemporary (London, UK), Assembly Point (London, UK), Horse Hospital (London, UK), CGP Gallery (London, UK), Canal Mills Armley (Leeds, UK), Video Pub (Jerusalem, Israel), Academia di Romania a Roma (Rome, Italy) . Part of her work has been collected by Penguin Random House.