Exciting new directions for Liyen Chong

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Exciting new directions for McCahon House Residency Recipient

Contemporary artist, Liyen Chong, has drawn on ancient Chinese and Japanese traditions to create a Twenty-first Century look at the ‘imported, foreign curio’, in an exhibition at Page Blackie Gallery, opening next week.

On the back of receiving the prestigious McCahon House Residency for 2011, Chong has produced a fascinating new body of ceramic work - calligraphic figures delicately captured within clusters of ceramic bowls. Always interested in the human condition, these calligraphic marks suggest a human form, which on closer examination reveal themselves as images of the artist contorting within the curve of the bowl.

This exhibition represents an exciting new direction for Chong, a bold shift from her widely exhibited hair embroidery works. Having trained in both painting and design, Chong is incredibly skilful at working across a range of materials and processes and has relished engaging with a new process in creating this collection of ceramic work. Through embracing old techniques Chong sheds light on their cultural significance in a contemporary context.

As we have seen with her earlier work, Chong explores cultural artefacts and traditions as ‘markers’ from which we orientate ourselves. Interested in what we choose to carry with us and what we choose to pass on, these vessels hint at the transitory nature of identity emphasised through migration.

Chong has looked closely at early Japanese and Chinese pottery, with a particular interest in the foreign curiosity and importing of these cultural artefacts. Chong feeds into this existing art form, combining old and new processes in creating these culturally amalgamated forms. Forms which explore an overlapping of the old and the new, the familiar and the unfamiliar, in creating a new cross cultural dialogue.

The McCahon House residency, which Chong will embark on early next year, specifically acknowledges the future potential in its selected artists. Previous recipients of the residency include Judy Millar, Andrew McLeod and Gavin Hipkins.

Background:
Liyen Chong has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and Australia, and has work in the Chartwell and University of Canterbury Fine Art Collections as well as in the National Gallery of Australia. In 2001 Chong completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at Canterbury University School of Fine Arts. Following this, in 2003, she gained her Masters in Design.

Liyen Chong’s exhibition runs at Page Blackie Gallery from 16 November – 4 December 2010.

ENDS

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