Cindy Ng (吴少英, Ng Sio Ieng) was born in Macao in 1966. After graduating from university majoring in print-making, she moved to London in 1990 where she studied etching under Bartholomeu dos Santos, who was the head of the Department of Etching in the Slade School of Fine Arts of London University, and James Wong, her mentor. In 1997 she moved to Taiwan and later relocated to Beijing, where she has been based since 2007. Her works expand on the mediums of painting, paper and canvas to explore the concept of ink in motion.
Read MoreA brief stay in London from 1993 to 1994 was a major turning point in Ng’s life as an artist. She was advised by Bartolomeu dos Santos to visit the Research Office of the Gallery of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the British Museum, where she studied a rich collection of calligraphy and paintings, interpreting the moods of the works of scholar-painters and learning about the influence of Taoism on Chinese aesthetics. This experience greatly enriched her works, adding a conceptual depth to her fluid, abstract forms. By manipulating the flow of ink and water, Ng creates compositions of near symmetry between the movement in her paintings and their natural shifting into mountains and valleys. The abstract character of these shifting shapes meld together and separate again, simulating naturescapes.
She has won several awards for her ink/water video installations including the 10th “V-art” International Video-Art Festival (Italy). Her major exhibitions include solo exhibitions at Today Art Museum (2007, Beijing, China), Seattle Art Museum (2007, United States), Ju Ming Museum (2005, Taiwan), The Taipa Houses – Museum (2004, Macao) and Taipei Fine Arts Museum (1996, Taiwan). She has participated in major group exhibitions including the video art exhibition Flower of Chaos at the Veneto Videoart Archive (2010, Italy), the 6th Annual Chinese Making Waves Contemporary Art Exhibition (Taiwan, 2009), and the Athens Video Art Festival (2009, Greece).
Text courtesy Art+ Shanghai Gallery.