Emily Cheng: Breathing new life into art

A collection of paintings by Emily Cheng at the Ayala Museum is a welcome and delightful break from the "artwork" that has been dominating the local art scene and the papers today.

These paintings are floating worlds of different civilizations depicted through layers of symbolic elements – each one with a story of its own. The painter’s love for art history, Renaissance painting and, more recently, Chinese and Eastern religious art has brought about a thought process that’s enabled her to create powerful and enchanting paintings distinctly her own.

Distilled ideas and images from her "dialogues" with her material from various cultures of the past are resuscitated and transformed into paintings to reflect a contemporary view . One therefore may find a detail from a lace collar of a dress worn by Queen Elizabeth I, Chinese cloud images, hairdos and dragons, incorporated with flowing Renaissance drapery. Other forms may have been cut beyond recognition and morphed into another silhouette, while a recurring mandala impression subtly invites contemplation.

"The seed of romance with Chinese art borne out of my heritage spawned delicate shapes of magical charm," Cheng says. The beauty of getting in and out of a (previous) culture – connecting and exhaling meaning from visual artifacts – appeared to be a touching experience for this artist of Chinese ancestry born in Manhattan, New York.

Her skill in painting is unquestionable. She sustains the same richness and verve on small or large canvas, the size of which may range anywhere from 2 x 2.25 feet to 4 x 4.5 meters. I particularly like her huge paintings, which she explains as being "more environmental and gives space for body and rumination." Her canvas is also irregular in shape. "I purposely avoid perfect squares," Emily explained. "The off-size gives a bit of tension and forms part of the unexpected."

This calls to mind another fascinating feature of her paintings, which are labyrinths. They seem to invite one to join a game in finding an exit, or perhaps be part of a journey with the artist into an imaginary world bearing enchanting treasures of ancient cultures and religions "that we can bring into our life today."

Mastery of color is also evident. The layers of elements blossoming on top of one another in luscious hues project the underlying affection she has for each chosen element or icon she paints. Once again, I am quoting Fernando Zobel, who said: "Bright colors cancel each other out. If you use color in excess, the effect is boring. They kill each other. Colors should be used with restraint and skill." I find this to be true. No true artist would take colors for granted nor use them carelessly if only to form some eye-catching composition of no substance. Emily deftly selects and paints her colors to radiate refinement and grace.

In discussing her exhibition at the Ayala Museum a year ago, I asked if she would be willing to give a lecture at a University in Manila. I thought this to be a good opportunity for our local artists and art students – or for that matter, art enthusiasts – to listen to a successful artist who also teaches, as well as gets invited to give lectures in different universities in the United States. She agreed to do it, realizing that "a culture develops with exposure to diverse ideas. It is common in the States for talks to be given concurrent to an exhibition as a way to enhance the art educational component in both museums and schools."

It was unfortunate that her exhibition and lecture coincided with the school break but nevertheless, 60 people attended the lecture at the Ayala Museum, which was coordinated by Silvana Diaz of Galleria Duemila. This was very encouraging because interaction with artists is almost non-existent in Manila and I saw this as something that would jump-start what aspiring artists could do to constructively develop their art. I was very happy to see the likes of Lianben and Lilia Lao and Edwin Wilwayco, among others. It was indeed a pleasant surprise to see such individuals with already established styles being open minded towards the perspectives of others in the same field.

Because of the minuteness of the art scene in the Philippines, one cannot help but deduce that Filipino artists tend to be secretive about their techniques. In contrast, Emily Cheng’s lecture covered not only the theoretical background of the works but also a rather detailed discussion of her process. In one of our conversations, she mentioned that this "openness" towards relaying such information promotes growth beyond a personal level.

A Phaidon book, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be, has a concurring idea. After all, if one hoards all ones ideas to oneself, stagnation will become inevitable. The lack of sharing is detrimental to one’s creativity – the drive to generate new ideas will be hampered, and the risks of "reinventing the wheel" or simply being left behind by the times will have greater imminence. Come to think of it, this selfishness about ideas and techniques may be the underlying cause behind the putrefaction of the present-day Philippine art scene.

Emily’s lecture was outlined by her catalog statement:

"Visual artifacts from the past such as architecture, archaeology, art objects, paintings, textiles, are all evidence of our former cultures. They offer us rich pieces of a massive puzzle. I am interested in examining our histories through these physical remnants. Perhaps it can offer clues to who we are and where we might want to go. Painting for me is a way to give form to my ruminations on history, art, nature and the self. It is a way to ponder queries and postulations. Each painting or group of images proposes an orchestrated set of relationships.

"In this recent body of work, I have narrowed down the usual large fields to a more intimate, portrait-like scale. Each painting combines two or more images, which functions as a model or study. For example, centeredness, growth, playfulness, cogency, rightness and healing are some of the ideal states being equivocated in these models. The sources of these paintings and monotypes include representations of Chinese mist, Byzantine and Chinese clouds, lotuses, Hindu lotus positions, Jain temple details and

Taoists’ talismans. Most of the elements are overlooked in their original context, they are embellishments or backdrops for deities. They function as segues between the main event and the viewer space. But they are imbued with the same devotion and expression as the primary figure. Retaining that aura is one of my primary goals when transforming the image into another medium. In these ancient and inventive forms, I see a remarkable connection to modernism and to my own experiences. Isolated and combined with other images or morphed beyond recognition, they take a new life, capable of expressing and evoking what words can only point to."

The lecture was a welcome fete. Art, no matter how intuitive, comes from something, and every serious artist should be able to understand his material, what he is doing with it, and be able to articulate the process even with just himself. Quite apart from the aesthetics of the artwork, this is how substance comes about.