Impermanence
Cindy Ng’s last Macao exhibition Sounds of Silence (held at the Taipa Houses Museum) happened four years ago and I was also the curator. Back then I didn’t realize that the exhibition marked the beginning of her artistic ‘revival’. But one thing was sure: it symbolized her artistic restart after a long eclipse. She had not presented any exhibition since her 1998 solo at the Macao Orient Foundation gallery. But from Sounds of Silence, Cindy has never ceased creating. She experimented with ink on canvas in 2004, ink on video image in 2005 and on photography in 2006. Under her ingenious manipulation, water and ink are magically transformed into myriads of beautiful landscapes. Cindy’s mastery of the flow, solidification and dispersal of water and ink on different media is almost flawless, revealing an exuberant creativity.
Since many famous art critics, including Ni Zaiqin and Chen Xiaoxin, have commented Cindy’s works elaborately, it is not easy for me to go further. Considering that the story behind an artist’s development may as well be interesting and inspiring, I would like to focus on this instead. I came to know Cindy in 1990, during a printmaking course at the old Visual Arts School in central Macao, but her printmaking works made no special impression on me. Incidentally, I discovered that later on she focused on ink painting. An impressive scene of Cindy remains in my memory: she was painting in her rented studio of less than 100-square feet, situated on the 2nd floor of a shopping arcade in Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida; her exercise works filled the whole tiny space, while water, ink and rice paper were scattered around.
It is generally believed that her studies in London influenced Cindy most. In fact, it was in London that she got inspiration from China’s profound culture and Confucian philosophy; it was there that she integrated the techniques with concepts on her works; it was there that she advanced from a mere painter to a real artist. Quite ironically, all these transformations took place in the United Kingdom, a foreign country. Cindy’s solo at the Orient Foundation gallery in 1998 marked a perfect finale for the 1st creative phase of her artistic path; the plate of preserved salted eggs depicted in one of the exhibited works was foretelling the artist’s ability and ambition to expand her creativities, giving a hint of her 2nd creative phase.
After the 1998 exhibition, Cindy engaged herself in creative compilation and contemplation for six years. Through our intermittent correspondence, I knew she was basking in sweet life, however, this time in Taipei. Taipei’s cultural atmosphere had an important impact on Cindy. If she had chosen to stay in Macao, very probably today she would have become an executive in a big hotel, or at best being promoted to the management team of a casino-resort, probably expecting to be fired under the current circumstances. The six years in Taiwan had greatly nourished her, widening her scope and laying the foundation for further developments. The 2004 Macao exhibition Sounds of Silence was a first display of her artistic maturity and closeness to the creative zenith. The later solos, respectively in New York at the end of 2004 and at the Ju Ming Museum in Taipei in 2005, further enhanced her creative poise and made her fame grow, paving the way for the solo exhibitions in 2007 at two prestigious museums - the Seattle Art Museum and the Today Art Museum in Beijing. An artist’s success cannot be gained overnight. It is the fruit of long term hard work, persistence, the striving for creativity and incessant self quest. These mark the arduous yet unavoidable course in the pursuit of genuine art, and Cindy has endured them all.
While developing her personal artistic career, Cindy has never forgotten her hometown Macao, where she grew up and got her enlightening art training. Being an avid traveler, wherever she goes, she unreservedly shares with us art experiences of each destination. Her globetrotting experience, coupled with her deep perception of different countries’ practices in artistic development, become precious references for Macao. A few years ago she even drafted up a proposal for the Macao government, suggesting ways for the promotion of local art and the improvement of the cultural environment. In this regard, she felt regretful for not making any accomplishments at home, as she did in other places, whose governments attached more importance to the nurturance of artists. The reason is not that Macao is less suitable but instead the government’s lack of vision and experience in developing art. To this day the Macao Art Village project submitted by her is still pending, as if ridiculing the scantiness of cultural policies and the ineptitude of the government. Cindy’s passion and dreams were once shared by many other artists of Macao. Yet the fact is: those who chose to leave Macao gained success; those staying behind are still withering in their self-entertaining process. This phenomenon should make us think, even though each artist has his or her own luck and ability.
Impermanence characterizes the meeting and departing in human society, mirrored by the floating and condensing of water and ink in Cindy’s works. The feeling prompted by the merging in this moment will immediately be washed away and transformed into another magnificent landscape, or empty space. Only with open minds will we face with ease all the ups and downs in our life. Today’s temporary departure might make tomorrow’s meeting happier. In the beginning of 2008, with the transfer of her creative base from Taipei to Beijing, Cindy sacrificed her own creation for the establishment of the Beijing Art for All Contemporary Art Exchange Center, realizing the common dream of promoting Macao’s art development with the Art for All artists.
Impermanence - Works by Cindy Ng is the last exhibition planned by Art for All this year, closing a cycle in the association’s efforts in promoting Macao art in 2008. I am not certain if this would become a milestone in her creative path. But what I can assure is: her creative journey as well as her life experiences will be ever richer, wherever she is in Macao, London, Taipei or Beijing.
James Chu Curator