Chen Wei Ting

Chen Wei Ting is an artist who explores longing, loss and childhood nostalgia. His whimsical work spans poetry, painting, sculpture and installation. Largely, he focuses on the emotional tension between childhood innocence and growing up. Vintage toys and alter-ego creatures feature as confidantes of himself. Some works are intertwined, with paintings often evolving into physical objects or sculptures. Inspiration is found in a range of places, from adverts and cartoons to animal photos. Throughout his practice, tears personify objects – falling from the eyes of a teacup, a sunflower sculpture or a cute bear. Acrylic and pencil are used to create the soft, smudged lines of Ting’s wistful storybook style.

For Chen, artworks are reflections on existence – each one describes a part of a whole life. This is inspired by Roland Barthes’ book A Lovers’ Discourse (1977). In it, Barthes argues that each of life’s ‘fragments’ carry equal importance. Likewise, Chen sees all his work as equal. Writing poems is another form of drawing – drawing and painting are their own forms of poetry. No matter the format, the works are a representation of the artist’s emotional world. As such they’re empathetic, tender, and full of longing. As the artist describes, "I want these fragments to describe the world we live in, or wish for."