Ting Cheng, a Taiwanese, London-based artist, makes work which comes from an extra terrestrial place.
It is totally enchanting but sort of hard to understand. She has pickled and preserved her child’s imagination and curiosity; it remains totally intact and she channels this into her work.
When asked about the concept behind her work in a previous interview she explained:
“As human beings, we learn from playing and we gain experience through trying. I am the queen of playing and trying. Inside the game, we are the controller. We press and release. We continuously select and restart, trying to break through the barriers that we encounter. The game will never be over, because despite all the set-backs that we’re facing, we will always continue playing and seeking those little victories.”
It’s all a bit obscure really but if you look at her work it sort of makes sense. She seems to be exploring her vision of things, the boundaries of her universe, testing, pushing, shaping, playing about. There is such a strong style that looking at it makes you feel like you are involved in the game too, and I suppose it is some old school Nintendo 64 that she’s living inside. Ting says her make-believe is inspired by her feelings of alienation, but not in a sad lonely way. She is just looking at the world as an outsider and this is what gives her such a characteristic vision.
Come and see her work in STITCH at the Cock ‘n’ Bull Gallery downstairs at the Tramshed, Shoreditch. January 16 – February 7, 2014.
https://www.cocknbullgallery.com/?p=969
https://cargocollective.com/stitchlondon