Macao-born artist Ng Sio-leng draws on her experiences of both East and West.[Photo provided to China Daily]
Macao-born artist Ng Sio-leng draws on her experiences of both East and West. The artist, who lived in London a year before moving to Taipei where she lived for a decade, has been in Beijing for the past nine years.
"Even when I grew up in Macao, I didn't feel that I was immersed in an entirely Eastern or Western cultural environment," says the 51-year-old.
This background has influenced her creations with ink and water, whether she works on a piece of traditional xuan rice paper, a canvas or a computer.
Her paintings and videos are now on show at a solo exhibition, Flowing Light, at Beijing's Riverside Art Museum.
She approaches ink art through an abstract and highly expressive style, ignoring the conventional norms.
While she retains the philosophical thinking that underpins classical Chinese art, her inspiration comes from Chinese paintings of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties at the British Museum.
Macao-born artist Ng Sio-leng's paintings and videos are now on show at a solo exhibition, Flowing Light, at Beijing's Riverside Art Museum. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Ng is inspired by Macao's sea views, and especially the scenes of beach sands being washed away by the sea.She is also inspired by dancers‘ movements.
In her works, she shades and layers ink blocks to show how a dancer's body and long sleeves turn and twist.
When she started learning ink painting at 16, Ng preferred combinations of black and white.
However, the turning point came 10 years ago when she was commissioned to do a public art project at a Taipei hospital. Then, she had to cover a long wall at the hospital with her paintings and was told that rich colors were needed cheer patients up.
"The undertaking seemed difficult because a good arrangement of colors is never easy," she says. "But after I completed the work I realized how much I loved colors."
Ng attributes her evolution as an artist to being exposed to a competitive environment.
In Beijing, she focuses on digital paintings and video installations.
Macao-born artist Ng Sio-leng's paintings and videos are now on show at a solo exhibition, Flowing Light, at Beijing's Riverside Art Museum. [Photo provided to China Daily]
For her works, she starts with milk, coffee and vinegar. She first pours them together with ink onto a glass plate to see how they flow freely.
She then photographs the scene, imports the images to a computer and prints out one the ones she likes.
She also uses computer programming to turn these images into video installations, which are also displayed at the current exhibition.
"Eastern art is essentially the expression of a life attitude, and in a way like the practice of Zen," she says.
"Western art seeks to challenge and rebel, while Chinese art is about how to make peace with the world and, more importantly, how men can integrate themselves into nature."
If you go
10 am-5 pm, through Friday. Hongyan Dong Lu, Beijing. 010-8738-2312.
