BIOGRAPHY
Cristene Chang Hoei (b. 1942)
I use a lot of printmaking techniques although most of my works are not editions but unique, one-off monoprints. My studio press is a rugged but surprisingly gentle machine that has been my faithful companion for over 15 years and is the instrument through which I am honing my “voice”.
Cristene Chang Hoei is best known for the ‘hybridity’ of her artistic expression, combining and re-invigorating conventions from printmaking, Chinese ink and artisanal modes of creation. A Fine Art graduate of Middlesex University, London (with training in art education at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore), Cristene’s art practice spans over 40 years.
Her interdisciplinary works amplify tactility and textures and explore the densities and translucencies of material, inks and pigments.
Her ideas and thought are marked by a literary sensibility that is manifested in her artwork titles and her articulations. Recurrent motifs in Cristene’s work include the behaviour of memories, the peculiarities of our experience of Time, and our attachment to places and terrains. Her works often allude to sensory elements that are difficult to represent pictorially or visually – such as scent, sound, touch and mood.
Her printmaking matrices are uniquely handmade, with many produced to naturally ‘self-terminate’ (i.e. rendered not re-usable for multiple runs) sometimes after only a single pull through her printmaking press. Comprising natural or found elements (ricestalks, twigs, branches, coir fibre, wires, hessian, etc.), these matrices are themselves a singular aspect of her practice and have been written about and published.
Her accolades include the First Prize Ray Fawcett Award, London (1995); First Prize, Tan Tsze Chor Award [Abstraction] (2003) and Bronze Award, UOB Painting of the Year (2014). She was a finalist in Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2009 and in 2017 her work was shortlisted from over 4000 entries in a selection of 304 artists for 6th Guanlan International Print Biennale 2017 and exhibited at the China Printmaking Museum. Cristene’s practice has been featured on television – The Travelling Palette (Mediacorp, 2007) and Passages: Art Nation (Mediacorp, 2002) and publications including Women Artists in Singapore (2011) and Printmaking Handbook (A&C Black, London, 2008).
Selected Series
Joseph's Coat
Weaving Series
At The Violet Hour
25-hour Series
And They Turned To Gold
Leaf Series
Past Perfect I
Collage Series
Between
Ink on Silk Series
The Road To Mandalay
Terra Series
Manna Rain
Tree & Seed Series
