Breath of Blue. Cecile Chong

About

Breath of Blue includes several bodies of work by Chong―encaustics, works from her Strainger series, and new tapestries―all comprised of the color blue. This new body of work draws inspiration from blue and white Chinese porcelain ware, which was a much sought after export on the Maritime Silk Road from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The distinctive cobalt blue and white decorative porcelain, was collected, imitated, and mass-produced by other European countries. Chong is drawn to the way that this particular hue has such a rich and complicated cultural history and employs it as a thread throughout her work.

Chong entangles cultural histories and language in her practice, utilizing found objects and layers of materials that speak to the fragility of life under global capitalism amidst the climate crisis. The artist’s spirited encaustic works reference traditional Chinese landscape painting and pull images appropriated from children's books from different cultures. Containing 25-30 layers of encaustic (heated beeswax, resin and pigment), Chong’s elegant paintings are applied on various wooden surfaces such as vintage ping pong paddles, long boards, and skate boards. These images are interspersed with rare materials sourced from around the world including circuit board components, volcanic ash from Ecuador, and pigments from Morocco and India.

The artist’s Strainger series is a play-on-words between a stranger and a strainer. These beaded strainer pieces use traditional household items from the kitchen as a base for bejeweled surfaces. The Straingers themselves suggest the act of separation, liquid from solid, interior from exterior, insider from outsider, the exotic from the mundane. Building upon her exploration of the allure of the domestic, the artist has also created a series of encaustic medication bottles. These small, but poignant works conceptually tie the Straingers to her encaustic landscapes.

Breath of Blue will include a small grouping of her masked figures, referred to as “guaguas” which translates as “babies” in Quecha, the language of the Incan empire. Pushing the boundary of craft and art, these sculptural bricolage works make the domestic into something uncanny and strange. Cecile Chong’s newest body of work is a series of fiber tapestries. The artist uses traditional hand-weaving techniques to create disjointed and unconventional tapestries with various interwoven elements (from tassels, to feathers, to LED lights, to brass charms). These cobalt blue tapestries are perhaps the most direct reference to The Silk Road and the historical impact of blue and white porcelain ware. Referenced both in the color palette as well as the juxtaposition of materials, these works speak to the amalgamation of cross-cultural narratives in craft traditions.