Chen Ping’s Bird’s Daughter is a deeply personal, philosophical response to family, man’s relationship to the landscape and our place in the natural world. In our dynamic modern life, with its dependence on electronic devices, man’s power of observation is becoming ever more fleeting.  

We no longer give ourselves the space to engage in contemplative enquiry into the real world—as it has existed since the dawn of time. The artworks in Bird’s Daughter are a salient reminder that the humanist qualities of rationalism and all the shades of grey in between—to the mystical and metaphysical abstract thought—are still important. Indeed, it is these qualities that differentiate man to other species that share our world.  

Chen Ping’s articulation in paint of these contemplative ideas about existence, act as a powerful reminder for us to look further than the glow of the screen.  Whilst he is operating in a contemporary painting paradigm, Chen is dealing with concepts that have a genesis in the ancient practice of Chinese ink drawing and painting.  This methodology—over a thousand years old—considers the relationship of form and composition in a highly balanced way.

Chen’s work dances between human figures, birds, the wind in the trees and the mist that comes down off the mountain on his daily walks. For him, painting is far more than a pure representation of place, rather it represents the feeling of place.  It is a joyful observation of what it is to be alive.

Thematically and visually, Chen’s work has gained recognition around the world, including most recently his inclusion in the prestigious PERSONAL STRUCTURES: Time Space Existence, part of the 57th Venice Biennale, 2017.

Bird’s Daughter is a powerful and intoxicating celebration in paint.

Ralph Hobbs
March 2018