Tulipmania 3, 6, 9, 11, 2012, archival inket prints with hand painting
Gordon Cheung’s parents emigrated from Hong Kong to London in the late ‘60s, where the artist was born in 1975. He studied painting at Central Saint Martins, and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2001. He is most known for his Tulipmania series which refers to the world’s first recorded financial crash in 17th C. Holland when the trading of tulip bulbs reached such a speculative frenzy that the price of one flower was ten times the annual income of a skilled worker. In a nod to inclusion of both Cheung’s Chinese and British backgrounds, the art historical heritages of both text and image are combined in the work. Using the financial indexes of British newspapers as background, the artist’s method involves throwing gobs of mixed paint onto sheets to dry before collaging the dried paint shapes onto the stock listings to create his floral forms. The resulting compositions are a poignant commentary on the cyclical nature of history and the absurdities of civilization.
Cheung’s work is held in many public collections worldwide including the British Museum, London, Royal College of Art, London, Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota. He has recently taken part in the Karachi Biennale, Pakistan, the Venice Biennale, and the Beijing International Art Biennale, and has had recent solo exhibitions at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach, FL and the Nottingham Castle Museum, Nottingham UK.
