Ming Ying is a painter living and working in London.

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Ming Ying works with heavy impasto oil paint to create romantic and psychedelic scenes of desire. The paintings reveal the predominance of western cultures, whilst also conveying the social phenomena of detachment, bewilderment and aspiration that arises out of the process of western integration for those from different cultural backgrounds. Ming is a Chinese artist, who received her early education in the years when westernization was prevailing in her country. Inevitably, she developed a fascination for the colorful western world. Now, after having moved to London and being based in the west, she has realized that life here is not what she imagined growing up, and that feeling integrated isn’t so easy. Throughout many discussions, she has learned that she is not alone in this sentiment, and has felt called to enter the discussion surrounding this cultural phenomenon. 

Ying’s paintings create dazzling spectacles in which the elegance of the 17th century and the familiarity of the later 21st century coexist. These scenes exude opulence in a way that attracts viewers, pulling them in to discover that against the opulent background, her subjects are faceless. Devoid of individuality, the paintings take on a much more psychological undertone than the image initially lets on. The transition from the figurative to the abstract engages viewers and triggers further thought. The theatrical dresses and the dream-like environments contrast with the anonymous faces which can be read as happy, sullen or depressed, depending on the viewer’s imagination. The characters in the paintings embody a rush that comes from endeavoring to blend into the crowd purely out of fear of being detached from it. 

Ying performs a contemporary Tableau Vivant by employing quick, forceful and veering brushstrokes. The effect of the blurred faces allows viewers to find themselves in the characters. Beckoned by the contour sketched in this way, viewers unconsciously find themselves in psychological and emotional territory, matching their ideas with the expressions they make out of the faces. When beckoned by the contour sketched in this way, Ying does not provide any pre-prescribed emotions – instead providing the viewers the opportunity to interpret them themselves. They are able to impose their own personal psychological and emotional landscapes on to the expressions of the indistinct faces. 

Also woven in the paintings are the showers of spark-light, pearlescent teardrops and twirling feathers, which enriches the  background with  the luxuries old and new. The grandeur of this environment offers a stage on which different cultures are able to play out. Ying often lavishly superimposes paint, using layers to underscore the emotional depth. A world is opened up in which a body is bonded with another and its surroundings. This material drawing language is akin to philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty`s writings, who explored the tactile experience of self and its relationship with the surrounding world. To quote him, “the body is the fabric upon which all other fabrics are woven”. To Ying, this “fabric” shall be taken as something into  which different cultures are absorbed and which will turn out to be an assimilation of what is best for the strengthening of a homogeneous society. 

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