Macao Artists CollectionPrefaceThe arts can elevate people’s capacity to observe, to comprehend and to express themselves, not only is one of the ways to resolve problems, but also can give people hope and courage so that their talents and wisdom can be fully demonstrated and exalted. More importantly, the arts are connected with the deepest core of human nature by expressing emotions and demonstrating wisdom.A city also needs some form of wisdom. Over nearly 30 years, art creations in Macao have had accumulated not a few attainments. The skills of the fine painters emerged in the mid-1980s have become more matured after nearly 30 years of exploration. They have now become the pillar of the arts community of Macao and are leading the trend of our times. On the other hand, as a result of access to higher education becoming more open, local art creations are also becoming more professional and diversified. New artists bring forth new artistic thinking, creative skills, visual elements and ways of appreciation. Owing to the lack of a systematic scheme of promotion, the overall image of artists in Macao is, however, yet to be sufficiently distinctive, and their contributions to the urban cultural and artistic development are yet to be sufficiently affirmed and promoted. The publication of this Collection aims to fill these gaps, with hopes to bring, through some ten years of effort, the image of the artists of Macao, who have contributed so quietly, to the life.4
During the course of art creations, Macao artists who engage in creations in Chinese calligraphy and painting find themselves quite hard to tear away from the tradition. They enthusiastically learn and study traditional arts of the nation, enhancing training in pen and ink, perfecting their modelling abilities, and fully elevating their artistic accomplishments and skills. From calligraphy to painting, and from sculpture to photography, their works have fully integrated into the national spirit of culture. In the meantime, they are good at absorbing the advantages of the arts abroad with great tolerance, fusing the Chinese and the West together. Artists who engage in Western media and materials demonstrate to people their sincerity and peculiar concepts, from concrete image to impressions, and from impressions to modern abstractness. From sketches to water-painting, oil-painting, acrylic arts, block print, mixed media, photography, all of these works demonstrate the passion form light and shadow.It leaves without denial that the representatives of these artists stand out from their fellows only after arduous practices. They enter the arts community of Macao and gradually form their own distinctive styles. Through their works of great artistic accomplishment, they ignite the interests of the spectators. Their artistic achievements come from their passion for the land where they grow up, as well as from their passion for the small yet beautiful, an internationalising Macao, and her simple and friendly people. They use their paintbrushes to draw the thoughts of the people. They use their artistic accomplishment to add colours to this city, to recall the past, to depict the present, and to offer for the future.5
Publication and exhibition are important means to promote artistic creations and to effectively remember the past and depict the present. While artists included in this Macao Artists Collection explore innovatively based on the artistic experience of the forerunners and exalting their own artistic personalities, they also respect the aesthetic taste of the population at large, paying attention to the style and quality of their works. They have achievements. They have faith. And they are aware that the aesthetic taste of the works can in turn play a relevant role in elevating the cultural accomplishment of the public. Needless to say, these artists are only part of a wider community who are cultivating with great efforts on the soils of Macao. There remain many more artists with artistic gifts, talents, personal style and characters to be discovered and recommended. This requires us to work together to achieve this, so that a fuller picture of the arts of Macao can be demonstrated.Social progress cannot neglect cultural construction. A prosperous economy and a prosperous culture are some of the important features of a modernised country or territory. The duties succeeded and exalted by the arts of Macao are now shouldered upon those full of innovative ideas. It is commonly acknowledged that those with artistic accomplishment possess a wider tolerance, a fuller life experience and humanistic accomplishment, a more energetic and charming personality, and a more aggressive innovative spirit. We sincerely hope that the publication of this Collection can inject vitality to the creative atmosphere of the arts in Macao, and that the levels of artistic creations at present can be reviewed, the artistic education deepened, the image as a cultural city modelled, the cultural personality of this city exalted, and to play a positive role in calling the population at large to pay attention and support our cultural and creative industries.This serves as the preface.Wu ZhiliangPresident of the Board of DirectorsThe Macao Foundation6
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散步 / INKWALK1404水墨攝影Ink on photo150 x 1460cm 201410
Because she uses ink, Cindy’s paintings represent the continuity of tradition, but she does seem to have been inspired by Liu Guosong, who said, “Revolutionize brush painting”. Her abstract ink work feels as if no brush was used, primarily because she chose another method, expressing her ideas through flows of ink. Of course, in terms of creative principles, Jimmy Lu on the Work of Cindy Ng Sio Iengshe could have returned to Tang-Song Dynasty aesthetics or searched for a beautiful mountain as a prototype, but she has chosen to use flowing, abstract ink to replicate the structure of traditional ink paintings. As a result, her compositions are very carefully constructed. However, the expressive methods of Chinese ink painting are very spontaneous, 14
Note: In the Song Dynasty work Mountains and Waters, Guo Xi proposes three techniques of perspective: “high distance,” “deep distance,” and “level distance.” “Moderation” comes from the “balance and moderation” often found in Chinese painting; from balance we arrive at grandeur, and from moderation we arrive at harmony between man and nature. “Concept” might be the easiest to understand, as it is often referenced in discussions of Chinese painting. and their highest purpose is the expression of abstract emotion, capturing the painter’s feelings about the power of nature. Cindy still utilizes the traditional ideas of height, levelness, moderation, and concept, but they are simply expressed through abstraction. Cindy has used this technique for many years, sometimes recording her process in video. She has mastered composition and color, but she must still rely on her own aesthetic sense for the final result. However, a new technological development, inkjet art printing, has been of the greatest help to Cindy’s work. Inkjet prints of ink on photo allow her to print a photo that will resist color fading over time, so she has used inkjet prints in some of her work, fully benefiting from this new technology. In Cindy’s work, innovation does not necessarily mean leaving tradition behind; Cindy has protected the roots of traditional ink painting, but pursued an unique and contemporary mode of expression. Jimmy LuSenior Consultant of Art ( Taiwan )15
Although ink painting on xuan paper has existed in China since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), it was during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.) that the genre reached its height. The medium has since become a leitmotif of traditional Chinese art and a genre painstakingly explored and constantly referenced by many artists over the centuries. Because of its philosophical and aesthetic implications and despite the theoretical disputes that have animated Chinese cultural circles over the past few decades, Chinese ink painting has always been revered and cherished, but seldom considered part of the contemporary art world, not simply because of the new iconographic references it has accumulated, but also because of its semantic implications. The discussion of ink on paper has often been limited to the formal realm, instead of embracing the conceptual one. Cindy Ng Sio Ieng (Born in Macau, lives and works in Beijing) has contributed a rich and varied body of work to the genre, widening and updating the dialogue about this medium. In a daring yet visually compelling way, she revives this respected mode of expression, bridging the gap between tradition and contemporaneity and between aesthetic and conceptual needs. By doing so, she has breathed new life into a medium that might otherwise be considered ossified or traditional.The Many Lives of Ink and Paper: Reflections on Cindy Ng Sio Ieng’s Artistic Practice Cindy has been carrying out a silent revolution. She was educated in Macau, where she became familiar with etching, but she is artistically self-trained and nurtured by her travels around the world. A period of study in London in the early 1990s proved especially fruitful, as she was exposed to the wonderful ancient Chinese art collection at the study room of the British Museum. In her oeuvre, ink and paper are not simply eternal, sacred tools of tradition; they have become both the signifier and signified of the dialogue between the work, the artist, and the contemporary world she inhabits. In her hands, the classic black and white of ink on paper is complemented with a varied palette, including shades of gray, green, yellow, blue, and violet, delicately mixed in a subtle yet unexpected way to create abstract forms and landscapes of the mind, where filled and empty spaces produce a strong visual tension and a specific rhythm that dominates the composition. It is no chance occurrence that these mind-scapes are totally devoid of any human presence and show no relation to a process of pure mimesis. These forms flow from the beauty of the ink, which is not just a tool, but a real protagonist; ink’s specific yet variable texture, once placed on paper, cloth (as the artist has been doing since the early 1990s), or canvas, can convey a whole array of feelings, ranging from calm to uncertainty, from loneliness 18
to contentment. Spontaneous changes in the ink seem to occur voluntarily on the chosen surfaces, but they are also controlled in such a subtle way that they perfectly echo the artist’s mental state. The viewer fully grasps the meditative mood of these pieces, which aim to evoke rather than represent. As a result, the viewer is invited to transform himself from peripheral onlooker to active participant by metaphorically stepping into these landscapes, getting lost within them, in order to redefine his own relationship with nature and the cosmos and come to a new appreciation of the ancient precept of supreme harmony, Tian Ren He Yi (the unity of man and nature). The artist’s simple, neat scenes may be a reaction to the cacophony of the outside world, becoming a refuge for the soul of both the artist and the viewer and offering visual and mental comfort. However, Cindy is far from surrendering to mere aestheticism; the various natural changes in the ink do not merely represent a safe aesthetic fascination; they also stand for a highly conceptual innovation. In her most daring pieces, the high and the low, the orthodox and the unorthodox, the natural and the artificial co-exist and influence one another, producing unexpected visual twists and turns that nevertheless create highly poetic and pensive compositions. The artist sometimes mixes ink with milk, coffee, and soy sauce and the effects of such unusual encounters are registered on various surfaces. The support chosen, whether xuan paper, canvas, photograph, or even video, is not a mere backdrop, but the active recipient of a dialogue between materials and media, the visual proof that the artist believes ink to be not a static value inherited from tradition, but a dynamic force able to open up new possibilities and unexpected routes. Manuela LiettiArt critic and curator (Italy)19
“Traces of Individuals“ group exhibition Red Gate Gallery Beijing 2013“個體的形跡”聯展 北京紅門畫廊 2013
墨 / INK0113水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120 x 120cm 201323
墨 / INK5513水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper96 x 176.5cm 201324
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墨 / INK3013水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper105 x 95cm 201326
墨 / INK0813水墨 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120 x 120cm 201327
墨 / INK2013水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120 x 120cm 201328
墨 / INK0413水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120 x 120cm 201329
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墨 / INK5613水墨 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper96 x 176.5cm 201331
墨 / INK0613水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper87cm 201332
墨 / INK0713水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120cm 201333
墨 / INK1313水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120cm 201334
墨 / INK3113水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper87cm 201335
墨 / INK4413水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper87cm 201336
墨 / INK4913水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper87cm 201337
墨 / INK4313水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper87cm 201338
墨 / INK5013水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper87cm 201339
墨 / INK7013水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120cm 201340
墨 / INK7713水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper120cm 201341
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墨 / INK5413水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper176.5 x 96cm 201343
墨 / INK5813水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper176.5 x 96cm 201344
墨 / INK6613水墨 丙烯 宣紙Ink acrylic on paper176.5 x 96cm 2013
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墨 / INK7570水墨 畫布Ink on canvas150 x 150cm 201349
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墨 / INK1811水墨 畫布Ink on canvas150cm 201151
墨 / INK5655水墨 畫布Ink on canvas138cm 201152
墨 / INK1911水墨 畫布Ink on canvas150cm 201153
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墨 / INK5311水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201155
墨 / INK7533水墨 畫布Ink on canvas150cm 201156
墨 / INK4645水墨 畫布Ink on canvas150cm 201157
墨 / INK5611水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201158
墨 / INK0711水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201159
墨 / INK7462水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201360
墨 / INK7427水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201361
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墨 / INK7498水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201363
墨 / INK7422水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 2013墨 / INK7460水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201364
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墨 / INK7483水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201366
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墨 / INK7431水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 201368
墨 / INK7429水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 2013墨 / INK7464水墨 畫布Ink on canvas180 x 65cm 2013
玩風景劇場 北京798藝術節 2009Playing landscape performance 798 Art Festival Beijing 2009
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散步 / INKWALK032012 影像 / video8分鐘41秒8’41”201273
失 / LOST 影像 / video13分鐘46秒13’46”200674
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散步 / INKWALK 0814影像 / video7分鐘24秒7’24”77
散步 / INKWALK 0914影像 / video7分鐘26秒7’26”78
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2 0 0 62 0 1 4index索引83
水墨攝影 2006 Ink on photo樹 / TREE0160 x 43cm 墨 / INK0143 x 60cm 樹 / TREE0760 x 43cm 樹 / TREE0460 x 43cm 墨 / INK0560 x 43cm墨 / INK1243 x 60cm墨 / INK0843 x 60cm墨 / INK1060 x 43cm 樹 / TREE0660 x 43cm84
水墨影像 2006 Ink on video無界 / NO BOUNDRY 8分鐘8’無垠 / NO LIMIT 5分鐘5’無形 / NO REALM 4分鐘30秒4’30”85
水墨攝影 2007 Ink on photo墨 / INK5822160 x 110cm 墨 / INK5865160 x 110cm 墨 / INK6151160 x 110cm 墨 / INK6152160 x 110cm 墨 / INK5975160 x 110cm 墨 / INK5824160 x 110cm 墨 / INK6527160 x 110cm 墨 / INK6425160 x 110cm 墨 / INK6661160 x 110cm 墨 / INK6695160 x 110cm 86
水墨影像 2008 Ink on video水墨影像 水墨影像 20092010Ink on videoInk on video水墨影像 2010 Ink on video8分鐘 8’散步 / INKWALK0108 4分鐘45秒 4’45”8分鐘30秒 8’30”散步 / INKWALK0509 散步 / INKWALK2010 10分鐘32秒 10’32”失 / LOST287
墨 / INKk0951 96 x 180cm 墨 / INKk5883 47 x 170cm 墨 / INKk6700 24 x 163cm 墨 / INKk6791 28 x 120cm 墨 / INKk6829 23 x 147cm 墨 / INKk6848 65 x 123cm 水墨宣紙 2010 Ink on paper88
墨 / INK0817100cm 墨 / INKk1170100cm墨 / INK1254100cm墨 / INK1204 160 x 110cm墨 / INK1093160 x 110cm墨 / INK1661100cm墨 / INK2039 160 x 110cm墨 / INK2104 160 x 110cm墨 / INKk1897100cm水墨攝影 2010 Ink on photo89
墨 / INK1130160 x 110cm墨 / INK2117 160 x 110cm墨 / INK2175 160 x 110cm水墨攝影 2010 Ink on photo墨 / INK0151 70 x 50cm墨 / INK0132 70 x 50cm墨 / INK136 70 x 50cm墨 / INK9842 70 x 50cm墨 / INK012010 70 x 50cm墨 / INK9713 70 x 50cm墨 / INK9752 70 x 50cm墨 / INK032010 70 x 50cm90
墨 / INK2211 68 x 65cm 墨 / INK7711 180 x 65cm墨 / INK6011 140 x 85cm墨 / INK5511 180 x 65cm 墨 / INK7811 180 x 65cm水墨畫布 2011 Ink on canvas墨 / INK98 150 x 150cm 墨 / INK52 180 x 65cm 91
水墨宣紙 2012 Ink on paper墨 / INK575668 x 53cm墨 / INK211262cm墨 / INK221267 x 54cm墨 / INK327380cm墨 / INK327856 x 60cm墨 / INK328156 x 60cm墨 / INK589156 x 60cm墨 / INK327480cm92
水墨宣紙 2012 Ink on paper墨 / INK241262cm墨 / INK901256 x 60cm墨 / INK931256 x 60cm墨 / INK951253 x 68cm墨 / INK308456 x 60cm墨 / INK961256 x 60cm墨 / INK911253 x 68cm墨 / INK921250 x 56cm93
墨 / INK8712138 x 60cm墨 / INK571370cm墨 / INK571070cm墨 / INK8912155 x 65cm墨 / INK9412155 x 60cm墨 / INK9612155 x 60cm水墨畫布 2012 Ink on canvas墨 / INK571170cm94
墨 / INK5881 110cm墨 / INK99 150cm墨 / INK5812 180 x 65cm墨 / INK6712 180 x 65cm水墨畫布 2012 Ink on canvas墨 / INK2112 68 x 65cm95
墨 / INK5801 155 x 60cm墨 / INK7797 138 x 67cm墨 / INK7798 138 x 67cm墨 / INK2980 137.5 x 59cm墨 / INK2980 70cm水墨畫布 2012 Ink on canvas96
主要收藏:北京今日美術館深圳關山月美術館澳門藝術博物館國立台灣美術館北京香格里拉嘉里酒店香港中國銀行Cindy Ng Sio Ieng was born in Macao, lived at Taiwan from 1997-2006, working at Beijing since 2008.Awards:2006 The 10th Media Arts Festival Jury Recommended Work, Japan2005 The 10th “V-art” International Video-Art Festival Selected Finalist, Italy2005 The 2nd Audiovisual festival B&W Selected Work-Experimental Video, Portugal2004 3rd Runner-up in the 18th Art Competition Philippe Charriol Foundation, Hong KongMajor solo exhibitions:2013 “Ink-formation”, Galerie Ora-Ora, HongKong2013 “Mindscapes”, Jia-Li gallery, Beijing2010 “Encounter Change”, Me Photo Art Gallery, Beijing2008 “Ink in Motion”, Julia Gallery, Taipei2007 “Ink Shadow”, Today Art Museum, Beijing2007 “Ink in Motion”, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle2005 “Cindy Ng Solo Exhibition”, Jia Art Gallery, Taiwan2005 “Peace”, Ju Ming Museum, Taiwan2004 “Sounds of Silence”, Amerasia Bank Gallery, New York2004 “Sounds of Silence”, The Taipa Houses - Museum, Macau1996 “Traveling”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, TaiwanSelected group exhibitions: 2013 “Traces of Individuals” Ink Paintings Exhibition, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing2012 “Song of the Siren” Contemporary Ink Art Exhibition, Art+Shanghai Gallery, Shanghai2012 “Dream Flowers” Exhibition, Red Zone Gallery, Switzerland2012 Mixed Media Exhibition, Austin Tung Gallery, Australia2011 “Tao of Nature” Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai2011 Caochangdi Photo Spring: Arles in Beijing, Beijing2010 “Time Unfrozen” New Media Art Exhibition, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan2010 “Flower of Chaos” Video Art Exhibition, Video Art Verona, Italy 2010 “Making Waves“Contemporary Art Exhibition, The 6th Chinese Character Festival, Taiwan2009 Mirrored Exhibition, The True Color Museum, Su Zhou2008 GrünDerZeit - Landschaftsarchitektur in und aus Peking, Institute of cultural foreign relations, Germany2007 Videonale 11, Festival for Contemporary Video Art, Germany2007 The 3rd Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu2006 The 5th International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen, Guan Shanyue Museum of Art, Shenzhen 2006 “Entry Gate: Chinese Aesthetics of Heterogeneity” The 1st envisage, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai 2005 “Unseen History” Art of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan2005 “Macao Image” Daejeon Fast, Daejeon Museum of Art, KoreaCollections:Today Art Museum, BeijingGuan Shanyue Museum of Art, ShenzhenMacau Art Museum, MacauTaiwan Museum of ArtKerry Centre, BeijingBank of China, Hong Kong109