Cindy Leong - A Moment's Interlude

ARTIST STATEMENT:

 A Moment’s Interlude continues my exploration of repetition and mark making, while turning toward the idea of immersive fields. The works seek to evoke the pause one feels when standing before a vast ocean or an open plane. Unrestrained marks, like droplets of water or blades of grass move across the canvas and meet the quiet insistence of a grid that gathers them into form. This exchange holds the tension between the primal Dionysian chaos and clarifying structure of Apollonian order. The paintings inhabit the struggle and harmony between those forces, much like life itself.

Each work takes the form of a diptych - two vertical portraits joined to form a landscape. The portrait orientation recalls the human body, but when doubled and placed side by side they stretch into a horizon. The reading of the work shifts, becoming less about the self and more about the expansive environment we are immersed in.

ARTIST BIO:

 Cindy Leong is an abstract painter whose practice investigates abstraction as a vehicle for meditation. Influenced by Eastern philosophy, her work unfolds through repetition, mark making and layering, creating immersive surfaces that offer quiet resistance to the demands of the attention economy.

Leong often works with muted, monochromatic colours drawn from nature, combining oil with incense ash on linen to build textural “all-over” paintings. These works aim to cultivate stillness, both for the artist in their making and for the viewer in their contemplation. For Leong, painting becomes a site of inquiry where rather than depicting visual representations of Buddhist or Taoist ideas, she tests its methodologies through direct and embodied experience.

“I consider my painting practice a continuation of the meditative techniques I learned in Vipassanā. In meditation I was taught to notice the mind drifting, and when so to gently bring my focus back to the breath. In the studio I echo this practice by bringing my attention to the point where the painting tool makes contact with the canvas. Each mark cannot be altered or erased, enforcing awareness during the process. I think of it as documenting my mind through moments in time. For me, painting is the act of staying present.”

Leong was born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau and is of Malaysian-Chinese heritage. She is currently completing a Master of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 2025.