Gordon Cheung

Gordon Cheung
Tulipmania 3, 2012

From a set of 12 archival inkjet prints with hand painting, edition of 20
Paper 61.5 x 50.9 cm / image 50.8 x 40.6 cm,

Courtesy of the artist and Alan Cristea Gallery

In 1995, responding to both the digital revolution and the pervasive influence of the financial markets on our daily lives, Gordon Cheung began using the stock listings of the Financial Times - cut up and collaged - as the backdrop to his work: “Substituting paint with the pigment of information…the constant flux of information flowing through us.”  
  After the financial crisis of 2008, Cheung considered economic bubbles in history, and was drawn to 'Tulip Mania', which gripped the Netherlands in the 17th century.  That a tulip bulb could be sold for the same price as a house both appalled and entranced Cheung leading him to introduce the flowers into his work.  His tulips stand proud, easily two centimetres off the page, the psychedelic colours - specifically chosen to reflect an altered state of mind - having been loaded into an icing bag then squeezed and looped onto the canvas. 
  With Tulip Fever - a Weinstein-backed film based in the time of tulip mania - hotly anticipated at cinemas this autumn, this could be a well-timed purchase.

Hedge, issue 36, August 2015, pp60-68