Gordon Cheung in his studio
We have looked at collage several times before as a way of drawing directly with the world itself. Collage materials are wonderful in that they bring into your work all the associations and stories linked to their previous life.
Gordon Cheung uses collage in such a way that as well as bringing in those associations he uses collage as a bridge between drawing and painting.
Tulipmania
The image of the tulip above is typical of Chung's use of collage as a support for his painting. The background is made up of sections of the Financial Times stock exchange lists and its pink is a colour that has long been associated with the newspaper. In 1893, The Financial Times, began printing its articles on light salmon pink paper, which was meant to distinguish the paper from its rival the Financial and Mining News. Of course it was also cheaper to print on unbleached, slightly pink paper at the time. This decision would turn out to be the most significant branding step the company would ever take. The Financial Times is still pink to this day, and its colouring has become its distinguishing factor. Over the years, it has intensified its pink as the company’s brand has become increasingly synonymous with the colour. Chung has been using Financial Times listings for the support of his images for some time now and just as the pink of the newspaper became a recognisable brand, the use of the Financial Times in his backgrounds has now become a brand for Chung.
His work reflects on the power of money to drive the art market and many of his images also comment on the role of investments in world affairs, therefore the fact that he has developed a brand or trademark look is a vital part of his conceptual remit.
At one time the tulip was central to an economic boom in the Netherlands.
Top 10 Dead Celebrities Still Earning, No 8. Andy Warhol
Many of Chung's other subjects reflect the interrelationship of money, investment and art, his series of images, 'Top 10 Dead Celebrities Still Earning', a reflection on the fact that when famous artists die, their wealth often increases and value is as tied to the blue chip investment houses as to any form of cultural capital.
On top of his collaged surfaces Cheung often uses spray paint together with oil paint, both these mediums again carrying with them meanings associated with their various histories. Spray paint was an industrial finish but is now much more associated with graffiti, the 'paint of the streets'. Spray paint is the low art medium, whilst oil paint is the high art medium being the medium of choice for all those aspiring painters that wish to enter the pantheon of art saints. Therefore when Chung uses spray paint to create a 'halo' around Warhol's head he is conjoining several different concepts. One being the central position of religious painting within Western art and its status of being an activity practiced by the first artists to become famous as art heroes, as in Vasari's 'Lives of the Artists'. In this case it could be argued that in Cheung's image, Warhol becomes an art saint. The other being an awareness of all those anonymous graffiti artists that work on street walls in every Western city; spray paint is their medium of choice and although 'tagging' is about having a street 'signature', for most people these street artists are nobodies. Before Vasari artists tended to be anonymous and in many other cultures artists never achieved the status of cultural superstars as they did within western culture and therefore also remained anonymous. Finally the bright streaks of oil paint and accompanying drips, reference the honorific value that oil paint has as a signifier of 'proper art'. One of the reasons collectors are drawn to Cheung's work is that it still has the cachet of oil painting, which has traditionally been the most bankable or ideal investment.
The key issue here is how the various associations with each medium combine to make a complex interrelated set of ways to approach Cheung's work. Collage materials will always carry with them a past history, but we often forget that so do all the other materials that we use to make art, such as those that seem 'normal' or 'the right' materials to use, especially those that you can traditionally buy on a visit to an art suppliers.
Gordon Cheung: Machine Dreams Jerwood Drawing Prize 2004
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