SYLVIA ONG

“Can art really illuminate hope in the world?” This question lies at the heart of Sylvia Ong’s latest series of paintings. In her debut exhibition at Almine Rech, the self-taught artist collaborates with composer Joanna Bieńkowska, who uses the moniker YANA, to contend with whether art can make an impact in our tumultuous world.

With a background in cinematography, performing arts, theater, and music, Ong traverses a multitude of art genres to create vignettes of lyrical expressionism that harmonizes color and texture with sound. Music and its strong ties to her emotions have been an integral part of her practice long before she realized that she experiences synesthesia, which causes people to see colors, shapes, or movement in response to musical stimuli. For Ong, her strong emotional reaction to music allows her to experience colors and shapes in her mind.

— Press Release by Harley Wong