Enter the Dragon featuring Chinese artists Amy Cheng and Mimi Chen Ting An Art Exhibit celebrating the Chinese New Year – new Beginnings and Discoveries January 6 - March 31, 2012 An Evening of Feng Shui (2/8) and Artist Talk with Amy Cheng (3/21)
Elisa Contemporary Art presents a new pop-up gallery and public art exhibit, Enter the Dragon, at Sotheby’s International Realty (Riverdale, NY).
It features the artwork of two female Chinese artists: Shanghai-born Mimi Chen Ting and Taiwan-born Amy Cheng. The exhibit will open on January 6th, 2012 and run March 31, 2012.
The exhibit takes place during the Chinese New Year and is a tribute to the upcoming Year of the Dragon. It Is an exhibit of new discoveries and new beginnings and will debut new work from both artists including Mimi Chen Ting’s “Twists and Turns” series and Amy Cheng’s “Mandala” series.
About Mimi Chen Ting’s “Twist and Turns” series
The work of Mimi Chen Ting has a strong rhythmic quality drawn from her passion for dance and a child-like playfulness. There are curves that wind up, across and away from her canvases. According to Mimi, "My perspective is derived from an early foundation in Chinese calligraphy. I have a very un-Western view – I see up, down, left, right …in positive and negative…dancing off the plane".
Her “Twist and Turns” series sums up her emotions towards the natural mishaps and political events that emerge in the world around her. The works help her bear witness to significant occurrences which are beyond her control. While emotional feelings and responses are intangible and too intricate to encapsulate on canvases, harnessing them and materializing them aesthetically have become Mimi’s quest for life.
She usually begins with gestural drawings. After alternating layers of paint and charcoal, specific shapes and colors start to emerge. She focuses on the areas that most resonate with her and these lines and colors become the bedrock for expansion and deliberation. The other areas are then either erased or hidden.
About Amy Cheng’s “Mandala” series
Amy Cheng’s “Mandala” series was inspired by six months spent in Brazil in 2010 on a Fulbright Fellowship. In this latest series, Amy creates abstract, mandala inspired paintings that metaphorically emulate the vitality of life force. She creates voluminous spheres woven within a decorated, layered realm of shimmering light and saturated color. According to Amy, “When I contemplate the energy of life force I think of cells and cell divisions, the universe forming itself out of dust, seeds blooming into plants, all which tend to emerge jewel-like, diaphanous, seductive and playful.”
Amy’s inspirations come from a variety of traditional sources, Eastern, Middle Eastern and Western. She is interested in having the viewer contemplate tensions and paradoxes – micro vs. macro, natural vs. manmade, outward vs. inward, force vs. resistance, and what wants to exist vs. the forces that want to control existence.
Hosting Two Special Events:
We’re hosting two special events during the Enter the Dragon exhibit.
An evening on Feng Shui design principles presented by Feng Shui architect, designer, author and teacher, RD Chin. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese system for positioning a building and the objects within a building in a way that is thought to agree with spiritual forces and to bring increased health, prosperity and happiness. It will take place on Wednesday, February 8th from 7-9 pm. Reservations required. RSVP to Lisa@ElisaArt.com
The second is an Artists talk with Amy Cheng on Wednesday, March 21 from 7-9 pm
