Folded Landscapes of Solo Islands - cincin
Solo exhibition
Exhibition Introduction
"Those of us who were born on islands are all solo islands in this world.”
The language of the colonized was folded by those in power; the identities of migrants are folded by oceans and continents; and nonlinear time was folded into a narrow line within faith.
If the journey’s purpose is to find the way home, then each repeated passage is an encounter with origins. Those borrowed, collective, and unclaimed struggles will ultimately return to the folds of spacetime, driving the next moment of color at its boiling point as I say, “I am_”
Landscape Series
The Landscape Series is created using mixed media—a specialty of Cincin—including watercolor, gouache, wax crayon, pencil, oil pastel, and soft pastel on 31x41cm cold-pressed watercolor paper.
The use of mixed media stems from the artist's long-term habit of traveling. Due to baggage weight restrictions, Cincin often finds inspiration in art supply stores in different cities or from fellow illustrators, continually learning and accumulating new techniques.
During the creative process, materials are scattered across the workspace and within arm's reach, allowing for an uninterrupted flow. It feels as though an external force—something beyond the self—guides the work until it is completed. Every action relies on accumulated experiences and present intuition, reinforcing the belief in "wanting to tell a story well" with absolute clarity.
While working on The Original Color, the artist felt transported back to moments in Peru's Sacred Valley, sharing space with Pacha Mama (the Earth Mother in Incan culture). The ever-present sketches from Ollantaytambo were laid out on the desk, and the artist vividly recalled the moment of feeling "Pacha Mama says yes". Overwhelmed with emotion, tears welled up as the piece came to life.
By folding memories of landscapes onto paper and layering inner voices behind colors, the folded landscapes hint at the artist's curiosity about the world, their faith in the universe, and their cautious yet affirmative embrace of intuition.
Conversations at the Island’s Table
Extending from the Island Consciousness series created during her residency in Lisbon, Cincin has infused her love for ceramic tableware, colors, patterns, Mediterranean culture, and the bird’s-eye perspective of a dining table into this series and its subsequent works. The long-term accumulation of her travels and the influence of dining and table culture on her imagination of life are vividly reflected in this collection. The bowls and plates depicted can represent corners of a dining table or be envisioned as various plates and islands in the ocean, where the artist has discovered the cracks where an islander’s voice can emerge.
The series comprises twelve 12F (60.5x50 cm) canvases assembled into one large wall, attempting to depict an ideal dining table. Each individual canvas represents topics we often agree to keep quiet about, but that the artist wishes to discuss loudly. These include:
The nonlinear nature of faith in time,
Choices in life that don’t need to conform to rigid frameworks,
Empathy and acceptance of diverse, even absurd, forms of identity,
And an ironic or direct confrontation of peculiar phenomena observed among islanders.
The artist seeks to transform these challenging and serious topics into delightful visual narratives through a gentle yet slightly playful approach. Whether these ideas are agreed upon or not, in an era where "cute is justice" and "flowers are beauty," adding more loud, vibrant colors to life seems like no harm at all.
"For me, the most important aspect of art is creating one-on-one dialogues with the audience, again and again."
Flowers of Collective Consciousness
In her past creative journey, from the exhibition Self Bystander to On Boundaries, the artist has continuously clarified her relationship with collective consciousness, navigating the path between intuition and the collective. Along the way, the essence of existence has become increasingly clear.
During her residency in Lisbon this year, leading up to her solo exhibition, Cincin repeatedly pondered how to address the concept of collective consciousness in the most direct way. This idea crystallized during frequent visits to a park, where she observed wildflowers on a hillside bending uniquely in response to the direction of the sun.
"Those flowers turning toward the sun embody their collective consciousness."
Inspired by this concept, the artist created a series of wildflower paintings in varying sizes, displayed along the staircase leading to the second floor of the exhibition space. These works symbolize a process of disentangling her boundaries with the world and a reconciliation with collective consciousness.
For the artist, painting these flowers was an ongoing exploration of the distance between herself and the flowers. She reflected, "The land they stand on has nothing to do with me," and "That is their collective consciousness." Through this process, she repeatedly experienced moments of detachment from collective consciousnesses that did not belong to her.
Interpretation of Freedom in Island Consciousness
Extending from the Island Consciousness series created in Lisbon and envisioning a larger 100 x 80 cm canvas, Cincin freely explores her imagination of freedom and her vision of an ideal world. It is a world where everyone maintains a respectful distance from one another, allowing each to find peace and balance within their own center.
Artist Introduction: cincin
“cincin, derived from the Italian word for ‘cheers’ and ‘celebration,’ is intentionally lowercase, reflecting her belief that by making herself as small as possible, she finds boundless freedom in the creative universe.”
cincin chang is a Taiwanese visual artist and illustrator, born and raised in Taipei. Her journey through Taiwan’s rigorous academic system and science-based background shaped her early years. After graduating from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan with a degree in Graphic Design and Art Direction, she embarked on a life of travel and art. She has since lived in over 30 countries, and in recent years, artist residencies have deepened her exploration of the connections between her art, colonial history, culture, language, color, and self.
cincin primarily creates personal works in acrylic on canvas and mixed-media illustrations on paper. Her artwork, marked by vivid colors and bold shapes, creates spaces for dialogue and reflects her passion for existentialism and collective consciousness.
