Chiang Jing Ying

LABYRINTH
An Installation Artwork by Chiang Jing Ying

Source: NIE Press Release

The Art Gallery @ National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
4 - 28 March 2004

Labyrinth, a work of installation art by Chiang Jing Ying, explores the human perception of the 'path of life' and questions the reality of a linear existence. This artwork is a labyrinth constructed in a large room, encompassing the entire viewing area. The viewer is incorporated into the work, a living part of the work itself. Indeed, the viewer is an intrinsic part of the work, experiencing the "life path" while simultaneously experiencing the piece.

The labyrinth is constructed of strings stretching across the viewing area at multiple angles and at varying heights and intervals. This sets an uneven path that the viewer has to follow to go through the piece. All areas, however, are visible, which allows a glimpse into the reality of life and its cycle, while maintaining the facade (perception) of life as a paradigm of straight lines.

The entrance to and exit from the life path are the same portal, suggesting that life is cyclical, that despite our linear thinking, the experience of life and death may be more circular, following the natural progressions of nature, as opposed to the more predictable corners of geometric lines.

In essence, Labyrinth is a work that challenges our perception of our own life path. This perception of life and self is directed and measurable, mirroring the functionality of modern life, a path marked with lines like highways, map grids, and architectural boxes. This may be in opposition to natural, more circular form, which is evidenced in the return to the place in life where one enters.

Chiang Jing Ying is an artist and art educator living in Singapore. She was born in Sabah, East Malaysia, and received her BFA and MFA degrees from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She works in various 2-D, 3-D and new media and has exhibited widely in Singapore and overseas. Jing Ying's works are in public and private collections in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, USA and UK. In recognition of the quality of her artworks, Jing Ying has received many awards including Juror's Choice in the Philip Morris Group of Companies Singapore Art Awards.


Dates: 4 - 28 March, 2004. As the installation will be shown as a work in progress viewers are encouraged to visit the show several times to witness the evolution of the installation.

part of the article on the art work is written by Sean Lacey


http://jingchiang.topcities.com/