WHITE Cube Hong Kong is presenting an exhibition of works by Indonesian artist Christine Ay Tjoe, entitled Spinning in the Desert. The large-scale paintings are a response to the seismic shift the pandemic has imposed on our daily lives, along with the opportunity for reflection.
Ay Tjoe’s work focuses on the notion of growth from within. Each painting is titled after the biological term cryptobiosis, which refers to the state of extreme inactivity, which the organism enters due to a change in environmental conditions.
Ay Tjoe’s work is intense and elemental, defined by fluid lines and daring marks. Following on from the black paintings – which recorded the darkness lingering in the human soul – for this exhibition, Ay Tjoe has used a plethora of blues, punctured with flickers of warm grey and damson red. For Ay Tjoe blue represents hope, which she swipes, smears and scrapes over her canvas in the form of an oil bar.
The exhibition signifies the artist’s state of mind. The paintings are dynamic and tangible, heralding zealous energy that explodes into abstract, emotive paintings.
by Sophia Ford-Palmer
Christine Ay Tjoe Spinning in The Desert will be exhibited at White Cube until August 28, 2021
