Liars
Cindy Cheng
Oct 14 - Nov 4, 2017
Statement: My practice is based in drawing but I am invested in exploring the rich intersections possible between drawing and sculpture. My work invokes a highly formal language that privileges composition, structure, material and form. I want to use this formalist language to create incubators that reflect on the physical and abstract self. My personal history – compiled from a combination of the physical spaces, the stuff and the narratives I’ve lived in, with and through – dictates much of my aesthetics, taste and approach to construction and arrangement. I see myself as very much a product of the 80’s, embracing its strangeness, love of sci-fi (which I see as a brilliant but nervous excitement towards the possibilities of globalism and the speedy advancement of technology) and accompanying sense of economic optimism. Unfortunately, these are all slippery, and things seem not to have gone as planned. I also acknowledge that my particular understanding of that point in time is idiosyncratic. Nevertheless, the myths and artifacts of that period structure my thoughts and filter my creative practice. But I don’t want my work to be overtly about identity or identity politics; this is where formalism comes in – as a buffer and lens through which to make the content of self open, inclusive and poetic. By creating works that incorporate thoughtfulness with a sense of play, optimism and some humor (a bit dry, a bit dark), I hope to make my projects accessible to anyone who cares to spend time with the work.
Bio: Cindy Cheng is an artist working in Baltimore, MD. Rooted in the practice of drawing, she explores the relationship between drawings and objects through complex constructions and explorations into ceramics. Cindy likes thinking about how built structures and artifacts may act as an incubator for history, memory and reflections on the physical and abstract self. She enjoys puzzles.
She has been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center and at the Anderson Ranch Artist Residency and in 2017 she was awarded the Sondheim Artscape Prize. She was a finalist for the 2016 and 2017 Trawick Prize, winning second place in 2017. She has participated in group and solo shows at St Charles Projects (Baltimore, MD), ‘Sindikit Project (a collaboration with Cheeny-Celebrado Royer) (Baltimore, MD), Present Junction (Toronto, Canada), Mount Saint Mary’s University (Emmitsburg, MD), Flashpoint (DC), E-merge Art Fair. She is thrilled that her first solo show on the West Coast is in cooperation with the lovely people of Ditch Projects!Cindy received her BA from Mount Holyoke College. She received a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from MICA in 2008 and then earned an MFA from MICA’s Mount Royal School of Art in 2011. She is currently teaching at MICA in the Drawing Department.
www.cindycheng.works
Bio: Cindy Cheng is an artist working in Baltimore, MD. Rooted in the practice of drawing, she explores the relationship between drawings and objects through complex constructions and explorations into ceramics. Cindy likes thinking about how built structures and artifacts may act as an incubator for history, memory and reflections on the physical and abstract self. She enjoys puzzles.
She has been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center and at the Anderson Ranch Artist Residency and in 2017 she was awarded the Sondheim Artscape Prize. She was a finalist for the 2016 and 2017 Trawick Prize, winning second place in 2017. She has participated in group and solo shows at St Charles Projects (Baltimore, MD), ‘Sindikit Project (a collaboration with Cheeny-Celebrado Royer) (Baltimore, MD), Present Junction (Toronto, Canada), Mount Saint Mary’s University (Emmitsburg, MD), Flashpoint (DC), E-merge Art Fair. She is thrilled that her first solo show on the West Coast is in cooperation with the lovely people of Ditch Projects!Cindy received her BA from Mount Holyoke College. She received a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from MICA in 2008 and then earned an MFA from MICA’s Mount Royal School of Art in 2011. She is currently teaching at MICA in the Drawing Department.
www.cindycheng.works
