Art, Identity and Legacy: Ching Ho Cheng, Miguel Ferrando, and Tseng Kwong Chi
Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 6:30PM, New York University Pless Hall Lounge, 82 Washington Square E, New York, NY 10003
Sybao Cheng-Wilson (Estate of Ching Ho Cheng), Teresa Ferrando Kleint (Estate of Miguel Ferrando), and Muna Tseng (Estate of Tseng Kwong Chi) speak about caring for their brother's legacies and how the role of identity has been navigated posthumously.
dentity looms large as a rubric for attending to artistic legacies. With dedication to more expansive cultural histories in regard to race, diaspora, gender, sexuality, and HIV status, this approach is essential. But tensions and slippages often arise when applying identity-based analysis retroactively, especially for artists whose work was made against autobiographical interpretation.
During this event, short presentations will introduce the work of three artists who immigrated to New York City and developed their practice in relation to distinct artistic scenes. In the conversation that follows, the artist’s sisters – all stewards of their sibling’s legacies for over thirty years – will reflect on the often gendered labor of legacy work and their role in translating the artistic, social, and political concerns of a deceased artist into contemporary discourse.
Moderated by Chelsea Spengemann, Executive Director, Soft Network and Jayne Cole, Co-curator of "Legacies" at 80WSE. With an introduction by Kyle Croft, Executive Director, Visual AIDS.
Participants
Sybao Cheng-Wilson has worked as a model and fashion designer. In 1950, her family immigrated to New York from Cuba, where her father had held a diplomatic post for the Republic of China. Her brother, Ching Ho Cheng (1946–1989), lived in the Chelsea Hotel in the 1970s, where he mingled with the avant-garde of New York and produced a body of work that ranges from psychedelic paintings and airbrushed still lifes to torn paper and alchemical reactions.
Muna Tseng is an acclaimed choreographer and the founder of Muna Tseng Dance Projects. Raised in Hong Kong, she moved to New York in 1978 with her brother, the photographer Tseng Kwong Chi (1950–1990). Kwong Chi was part of the downtown arts scene of the 1980s and is best known for his self-portrait series East Meets West in which he poses in front of iconic tourist sites in a Mao suit.
Teresa Ferrando Kleint and her brother Miguel Ferrando (1957–1996) moved to New York from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in the early 1960s. From the late 1970s, Miguel was active as a painter and performer in downtown New York, becoming close with artists Darrel Ellis and Richard Brintzenhofe. His paintings often juxtaposed art historical references with buildings and landscapes of the Dominican Republic.
Attendees are encouraged to view work by all three artists before the event. Work by Ching Ho Cheng and Tseng Kwong Chi is on view at 80WSE as part of “Legacies: Asian American Art Movements in New York City (1969-2001),” curated by Howie Chen. Work by Miguel Ferrando is on view at Candice Madey Gallery as part of “Darrel Ellis and Miguel Ferrando.”
This event is organized by Visual AIDS, 80WSE and Soft Network.
