Cecile Chong

Bio/CV: Cecile was born in Ecuador to Chinese parents and grew up in Quito and Macau. She is a multimedia artist working in painting, sculpture and installation layering materials, identities, histories, and languages. She was awarded fellowships and residencies including NYS Council on the Arts, LMCC Creative Engagement, Urban Field Station, Hispanic Society Artist Research Fellowship, Block Gallery/AIM Artist Hub, BRIC Media Arts, the Joan Mitchell Center, Wave Hill Winter Workspace, the Lower East Side Printshop, Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant, The Center for Book Arts, Socrates Sculpture Park, AIM - Bronx Museum, Urban Artist Initiative NYC, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. Her public art installation EL DORADO - The New Forty Niners has been installed in the five boroughs of New York City. Solo exhibitions include Sugar Hill Children’s Museum, Selenas Mountain, ICFAC at Pinta Miami, Smack Mellon, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Five Myles Plus Space, Selena Gallery, BRIC House, Emerson Gallery Berlin Germany, Honey Ramka Project Space, Figureworks, Praxis, Corridor Gallery and ArtSPACE. She received an MFA from Parsons the New School for Design, an MA in education from Hunter College, and a BA in Studio Art from Queens College.

Artist Statement: Her work addresses ideas of cultural interaction and interpretation, as well as the commonalities humans share in our relationship to nature and to each other. Inspired by materials as signifiers, she’s interested in how we acquire and share culture, and how world cultures now overlap and interact in ways previously inconceivable. 

With uncertainty looming in everything from our economies to our weather patterns, she’s concerned with the fragility of our civilization despite the universality of its cultural underpinnings. In her work she’s been looking at traditional artifacts and wondering what tangible relics we may leave for future generations and what they may say about who we were and how we lived.

Selected Solo Exhibitions: 
2021 Long Island Children’s Museum - Holding Space, Garden City, NY, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum - _other Nature - Cicadian Rhythm, curated by Damien Davis & Charlene Melville 2020 Selenas Mountain - Breath of Blue, Brooklyn, NY, ICFAC International Chinese Fine Arts Council at PINTA Art Fair, curated by Inez Suen, Smack Mellon - other Nature, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Brooklyn, NY  2019 Kenise Barnes Fine Art Project Space - Cecile Chong, New encaustic paintings, Larchmont, NY  2018 Five Myles Plus/Space - In Between Daylight, Brooklyn, NY  2017 Selena Gallery, Lemon Tongues, curated by Anjuli Rathod and Olivia Swider, Brooklyn, NY, Drawing Rooms - Bold & Beautiful, curated by Anne Trauben, Jersey City, NJ (solo room), Old Stone House- Multilocational, curated by Katherine Gressel, Brooklyn (two-person with Natalia Nakazawa)              2015 BRIC Project Room - Time Collision, curated by Jenny Gerow, Brooklyn, NY  2014 Emerson Gallery Berlin: Cecile Chong - Souvenir, Berlin, Germany, Honey Ramka Project Space - Locus, Brooklyn, NY 2012 Figureworks - Lead the Way, Brooklyn, NY (two-person with William Gropper)

Selected Group Exhibitions: 2022 Rockefeller Capital Management - In a Different Light, curated by NYFA, New York  2021 Metaphor Projects – MAGIC, curated by Rene Lynch and Julian Jackson, Brooklyn, NY, BravinLee Programs – If Tomorrow Comes, New York, NY, Selenas Mountain - Along a River of Sapphire Pools 4, Brooklyn, NY, Chautauqua Institution, Strohl Art Center - Co-Existence, Four artists of Chinese descent, NY, MANA Contemporary - Tiger Strikes Asteroid: It feels like the first time, Chicago, IL, JCAL’s Miller Gallery - Process → Project, curated by Rejin Leys and Damali Abrams, Queens, NY 2020 The Immigrant Artists Biennial, Language / Mother Tongue, virtual, The Border Project Space - PLACID, curated by Jamie Martínez, Brooklyn, NY, Royal Society of American Art – REMAKE/REMODEL, curated by Amelia Biewald and Jason Clay Lewis, NY, Art Off-Screen, curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch, Neumeraki, Eastern Art Gallery - Racism: An American Pandemic, curated by Yulia Tikhonova, Willimantic, CT, St. Joseph’s College - Reflections, curated by Meridith McNeal, Brooklyn, NY, Materials for the Arts - Contemporary Reuse 2020, Queens, NY 2019 BRIC Media Arts Fellowship Screening, Brooklyn, NY, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center - Among Friends/Entre Amigos, New York, NY, Gallery MC, Personal Identity Matters, curated by Iksong Jin, New York, NY (catalog) 2018 Asian Contemporary Art Week - Thinking Collections, EFA Studios - Organized by Sharmistha Ray, NY, Pelham Arts Center - Waxing Poetic, curated by Katherine Dufault, Pelham, NY, Galería Artflow - VALOARTE XIII, San José, Costa Rica, Beth Dary’s studio DUMBO Open Studios – AMONG FRIENDS, Brooklyn, NY, The Painting Center - Cultivate Your Own Garden, curated by Patricia Spergel, NY 2017 Smack Mellon - UPROOT, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Brooklyn, NY, Westbeth Gallery - Strange Flowers, curated by Elisabeth Condon, New York, NY, Lower East Side Printshop - Allow Me to Interject, curated by David Rios Ferreira, NY, St. Joseph’s College Gallery - VOYAGER, curated by Meridith McNeal. Brooklyn, NY, HEREart - Unwritten Stories, curated by Constance Slaughter, New York, NY, Knockdown Center - Nasty Women, by Roxanne Jackson & Jessamyn Fiore, Queens, NY 2016 Drawing Rooms - Big Small Show, Jersey City, NJ, Royal Opera Arcade Gallery - Young Masters, London, Corridor Gallery - Well Traveled, curated by Meridith McNeal, Brooklyn, NY, Figureworks - Making Music, Brooklyn, NY, Trestle Gallery - Small Works, curated by Heather Darcy Bhandari, Brooklyn, NY, Galería Artflow - VALOARTE XII, San José, Costa Rica 2015 Tiger Strikes Asteroid, SATELLITE , +1+1, MADE and LABspace, Miami, FL, Corridor Gallery and Scope Miami – Rush 20: 1995–2015, Exhibition & Print Portfolio, NY, Miami, John Jay College of Criminal Justice–Cautionary Tales, curated by Randall Harris & Anne Hoppe, Dedalus Foundation-TWOFOLD: Artist-Teacher, Teacher-Artist, Brooklyn, NY (catalog), Castle Gallery at The College of New Rochelle - Then and Now, curated by Alex Campos, NY, The Center for Book Arts - Then and Now, curated by Alex Campos, NY, Bronx Museum of the Arts – Bronx Speaks: Making Place, BxAA, curated by Sarah Corona 2014 Kenise Barnes Fine Art -The Best of 2014, Larchmont, NY, Kunsthalle Galapagos-(Un)Mediated, curated by David Rios Ferreira & Christine Walia, NY, DUMBO Arts Festival, Pleased to Meet Me on the Park Fence, Brooklyn, NY, Galería Artflow - VALOARTE XI, San José, Costa Rica, Ground Floor Gallery - The Girls Next Door, curated by Krista Saunders, Brooklyn, NY, Hunterdon Art Museum - Swept Away, Clinton, NJ, Taller Puertorriqueño - Iconography of Meaning, Philadelphia, PA (catalog), The Center for Book Arts - Artist–in-Residence Exhibition, curated by Alex Campos. NY 2013 Lovey Town - The Joy of the Task, curated by Michael Velliquette, Madison WI, Cape Cod Museum of Art - Swept Away, curated by Michael Giaquinto, MA, Nevada Museum of Art - Voces y Visiones, Highlights from El Museo, Reno, Nevada, Rush Arts - Dimensions Variable - curated by Gabriel de Guzman, New York, NY, Mt Vernon Public Library - WORD curated by Meridith McNeal, Mt. Vernon, NY 2012 Art in Odd Places – AiOP : MODEL, Edwin Ramoran lead curator, New York, NY, Corridor Gallery - WORD, curated by Meridith McNeal, Brooklyn NY, Centro de Artes y Tecnología Antigua Aduana - VALOARTE X, San José, Costa Rica, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Rolling in the Deep, Larchmont, NY, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery - Art at the Top, The Empire State Building, NY, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art  - Me Love You Long Time, curated by Edwin Ramoran, Yace Gallery - Reenacting Sense, curated by Liz Y. Kwon, LIC, New York 2011 Curate NYC online exhibit, curated by Lowery Stokes Sims, Hudson Guild Gallery - FREESTYLE, curated by Rick Krieger and Jim Furlong, New York, NY, Wave Hill, The Bronx Museum - Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial, NY (catalog), Longwood Art Gallery - Observed, Imagined and Re/created, curated by Juanita Lanzo, Bronx, NY, Kenise Barnes Fine Art - Baby It’s Cold Outside, Larchmonnt, NY, Storefront Gallery - New Year, New Work, New Faces, Brooklyn, New York, NY 2010 Nathan Cummings Foundation - Provisions, curated by Meridith McNeal, NY, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery - Young Masters Revisited, London, UK, ArtSolar - LUSH, curated by Trinidad Fombella, East Hampton, NY, ADC Contemporary Art Gallery - Beautiful Mess, Los Angeles, CA, Amy Simon Fine Art - Ready, Aim, Inspired, Westport, CT, Rockland Art Center - Fresh Paint, curated by Lynn Stein, West Nyack, NY

Public Art: 2021 EL DORADO - The New Forty Niners - Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, Manhattan  2020 EL DORADO - The New Forty Niners - The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor, Staten Island, Six Degrees of Separation - Long Island Children’s Museum, Garden City, LI 2019 Main Window DUMBO - Straingers, curated by Beth Dary and Jeff Wallace, Brooklyn, NY, EL DORADO - The New Forty Niners - Figuring the Floral, curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch, Wave Hill, The Bronx 2018 EL DORADO - The New Forty Niners - Lewis Latimer House Museum, Queens 2017 EL DORADO - The New Forty Niners - Art in the Parks: NYC Parks - Sunset Park, Brooklyn 2016 Artslope - Prospect Park/NYC Parks, Park Slope, Brooklyn 2011 Socrates Sculpture Park - Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, LIC, NY

Awards and Residencies: 2022 New York State Council on the Arts FY2022 Grant  2021 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council LMCC: 2021 - Creative Engagement Grant, The Hispanic Society Museum and Library - Artist Research Fellowship, NYC Urban Field Station - Artist in Residence 2020 Foundation for Contemporary Art FCA Emergency Grants COVID-19 Fund 2019 BRIC Media Arts Fellowship, Brooklyn, NY, The Block Gallery / The Bronx Museum AIM Residency at 80 White Street, New York, NY  2018 Queens Council on the Arts - Arts Access Grant (for EL DORADO - The New forty Niners), NY 2017 Joan Mitchell Center - Artist-in-Residence Program, New Orleans, LA, Wave Hill - Winter Workspace Residency Program, Riverdale, NY 2016-2017 Lower East Side Printshop - Keyholder Residency, New York, NY 2016 MASS MoCA Studios/Assets for Artists Residency, North Adams, MA, Percent for Art - PS46X finalist 2015 Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant, New York, NY 2013 The Center for Book - Arts Artist-in-Residence Workspace Grant, New York, NY 2012 smART Power Grant finalist              

Selected Collections: El Museo del Barrio, Museum of Chinese in America, Smithsonian National Museum of African, American History and Culture, The Center for Book Arts, Citigroup Art Advisory Collection, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Patricia A. Bell Collection, Peggy Cooper Cafritz Collection, Joseph and Carmen, Ana Unanue Collection, private collections

Selected Press: Ante Magazine, Brooklyn Rail, Untapped NY, Artnet News, Artspiel, Hyperallergic, Asia Contemporary Art Week, ArtNet

Social: @cecilestudio