Chen Ping, Garden

About

Informality is delighted to present a selection of work by Chinese born artist Chen Ping. The artist's work seeks to expose and return to the beginning of cultural values by re-examining the symbolic relationship between people, their environment and animals. 

The work in the exhibition are based largely on Chinese mythologies and the artist’s fascination with this subject has been a core inspiration behind his work. However, more significantly, he seeks to draw comparison and similarities between all myths and tales around the world and throughout history. As a result, the paintings are not re-tellings of existing myths, but rather are creating new ways to become myths of their own. 

Ping uses the empty canvas as part of the painting’s composition, allowing for his active and gestural mark making to be more concentrated, while reflecting the physical quality and the way it intertwines with metaphysics in the philosophical sense. The flows of colour which inhabit the canvas have no sharp lines, the people, mountains and trees blurring into each other and often difficult to distinguish. There is no separation between people and nature, but endless contours that overlap and influence each other.

‘When viewing Ping’s work, one often does not know where to stand: up close to see the layers or from a distance to observe the patterns. This is reflective of our interactions with the world around us – and it is why Ping provides us with a gateway across these worlds. This is the being of art.’ – James Arvanitakis.