Christine Ay Tjoe's Abstraction
Takes New Directions
Christine Ay Tjoe's latest paintings on view at White Cube Hong Kong (Spinning in the Desert, 18 May–28 August 2021) strike a timely resonance with the challenges of the past 18 months.
Focused on the 'specific, rare, and beautiful ability of living things', each painting is titled 'Blue Cryptobiosis', which refers to an organism's state of inactivity triggered by extreme environmental conditions, where all metabolic processes are stopped. 'Cryptobiosis offers the idea to virtually halt movement and any definite aim ahead; offering possibilities for a longer life and greater hope instead', the artist has said.
Hope is reflected, also, in Ay Tjoe's use of the colour blue in her latest paintings. For the artist, blue represents hope, as it lies in the middle of the colour spectrum.
'Each colour she chooses is a protagonist, it has a character,' explains Capucine Perrot, Associate Director, Artist and Museum Liaison at White Cube. 'She plays with colours like she plays with characters, giving each a personality and different symbolism.'
The use of colour represents a stark departure from her earlier work featured in Black, kcalB, Black, kcalB at White Cube Bermondsey in 2018, which was both visually and conceptually darker, yet her signature styling remains the same. 'The mark-making is similar, as is the way the numerous layers are built up while still allowing the canvas to shine through, making the unseen, seen,' explains Perrot.
Drawing has enabled Ay Tjoe to develop a line that seems charged with an inherent power source. Both raw and refined, gritty and fragile, the paintings leave a gut-felt impression.
