NING CHEN

OPENING SPEAKER
         Professor Jocelyn Chey AM

Jocelyn Chey is Visiting Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney, and Adjunct Professor in the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University and the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney. Her current research fields include cultural diplomacy with relevance to China and Taiwan, and the cultural aspects of Chinese humour.  She has co-authored and co-edited two books on the latter subject and published widely on cultural diplomacy and Chinese international relations.

Jocelyn was one of the earliest students in Australia to take up Chinese language studies in the 1950s.  She completed her Master degree at the University of Hong Kong and her Doctor degree at the University of Sydney.  

In 1973 she was appointed China Relations Officer in the Department of Overseas Trade, before being posted to Beijing as the first Australian Cultural Counsellor in 1975.  She was the first Executive Director of the Australia-China Council 1979-1984, Senior Trade Commissioner in Beijing 1985-88 and Consul General to Hong Kong 1992-95.  From 1988 to 1992 she was the Director of the China Branch of the International Wool Secretariat.

Jocelyn Chey is a Councillor of the Australian Institute for International Affairs New South Wales.  She was awarded the Australia-China Council Medal for contributions to the development of relations between Australia and China in 2008 and in 2009 honoured with the Medal of Australia and also made a Fellow of the Institute of International Affairs. 

Ning Chen is a Chinese Australian artist born in Shanghai in 1957 who has lived in Australia for nearly four decades. Over the years, his art has expanded through an ongoing dialogue between Chinese and Western traditions. The result is a style that is confident, distinctive, and clearly his own.

Artistic maturity is often measured by the seamless integration of style and individuality. This principle has been repeatedly affirmed throughout art history and remains crucial for contemporary artists seeking to establish their place and identity within a multicultural context. For Chen, artistic creation resembles a long voyage. Through sustained practice and exploration, he has discovered his own direction and developed an independent, fully articulated artistic language.

Entering Chen’s work is like stepping into a mental landscape filled with clues and metaphors. Visual elements that appear independent at first glance yet subtly interrelated invite the viewer to take an active role in interpretation. His sophisticated brushwork, innovative compositions, and conceptually rich imagery generate unexpected viewing experiences. Beneath the formal structure, however, lie layers of cultural reflection and spiritual inquiry that unfold through quiet contemplation. Chen’s works thus sustain a dynamic tension between rational structure and sensory experience.

Chen’s practice is grounded in a lucid rational structure, yet it consistently conveys a vision that is organically formed. The compositional elements balance and resonate with one another, creating a coherent visual order. This natural cohesion arises from his engagement with both historical and contemporary cultural traditions. He has mastered traditional Chinese ink painting while also drawing on Western painting — particularly its architectonic approaches — to inform his use and structuring of space.

In his work, the expressive spontaneity of ink painting is transformed into a sculptural, highly controlled form of drawing and introduced into a multidimensional spatial framework. Through the segmentation of planes, the layering of spatial depth, and the interweaving of lines, the poetic sensibility of Chinese ink traditions and the structural logic of Western painting merge effortlessly within a single pictorial field. This integration is not a simple juxtaposition, but a balance achieved through sustained negotiation — one that preserves the spiritual depth of tradition while articulating the expansive vision of modern art.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, Chen’s work reflects the mindset of contemporary urban life. The geometric spaces and linear structures within his compositions symbolise social rules and order, offering both a sense of security and an invisible form of constraint. The motif of the horse, by contrast, embodies individual identity, freedom, and untamed vitality — a yearning to break free from constraints and return to the self. The disciplining force of the linear geometric forms stands in sharp contrast to the horse’s struggle to escape, yet within the composition this tension attains a subtle equilibrium. As viewers engage with the work, they can sense the vitality and movement that surge beneath the constraints of order, conveying a profound longing for freedom.

Color is one of the most distinctive features of Chen’s work. The backgrounds of his compositions are often rendered in restrained, monochromatic tones, creating a calm stage upon which the subjects unfold. Recurring motifs, such as the horse, are frequently depicted in vivid hues of pink, green, or blue, generating a striking visual contrast. This use of color not only heightens the compositional tension but also imbues the work with a subtly surreal, contemporary sensibility, allowing traditional subjects to be reactivated within a new visual context.

In his “Porcelain Plate” series, Chen reinterprets traditional blue-and-white plates featuring classical figures engaged in board games by superimposing the motif of a pair of horses. The horses appear in a symbiotic, double-headed form, gazing down upon the figures below, creating a visual relationship that is at once playful and subtly surreal. Through this intervention, traditional imagery is given a renewed interpretive space within a contemporary cultural setting.

From Shanghai to Australia, nearly 40 years of cultural experience have allowed Chen’s art to remain deeply rooted in Chinese traditions while embracing an outward-looking, global perspective. He works with rational spatial structures as his framework, infuses them with the spirit and vitality of ink painting, and extends them through a dynamic language of color, creating a vibrant connection between tradition and the contemporary, East and West. His work not only reflects a sustained personal artistic inquiry but also provides a model for cross-cultural practice in contemporary art.

Inspired by the sensibilities of Haruki Murakami, we may conclude that all sensations become objects, consciousness flattens into a plane, logic is temporarily suspended, and time pauses — even if only for a moment.


Translated by Professor Jing Han