Alisan Fine Arts
Dec 18-Jan 12
Like many artists of the Chinese diaspora, Chinyee suffuses her paintings with traces of Chinese ink and calligraphy. But it's American abstract expressionism that has influenced her to develop a style that defies definitive categorisation.
Born in Nanjing in 1929, Chinyee received formal Chinese education during the second world war. After moving to New York to study fine art in 1947, she was exposed to the abstract expressionist movement that blossomed through the 1950s. She has adopted an abstract approach in her work, although the mood of her paintings is light and soft.
'Abstract expressionists before me, such as Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, created works that are very strong and aggressive,' she says. 'I tried to do the same at the beginning, but later I realised that I didn't like it very much.'
Chinyee says she's a sensitive person driven to painting to express her feelings about nature and everyday life, which may explain why some critics are reluctant to label her an abstract expressionist. On the basis of works such as Indigo and Red (above), some describe her as a lyrical abstractionist.
