In her debut solo exhibition ‘Cranium’ in 2010, Cheng Yen Peng took inspiration from Tibetan art and Chinese ornaments to discover the values of life and enlightenment in oil and acrylic paintings centred around skulls and skeletons. Within the pop art-inspired works was a riveting message of feminism, and the Penangite rekindles her fondness for dissecting modern day gender roles in her latest solo exhibition ‘PRICKED!’.
Through her eight paintings, Cheng explores the social pressures as well as emotional and physical rigours of being a woman. Her aesthetically striking paintings with fluorescent and feminine hues mask decidedly darker themes, which range from sexual relationships and yearnings to fetishes and erotica. The Dasein Academy of Arts graduate, widely regarded as one of the Malaysian art scene’s most promising artists, has gone on to work with distinguished local artists Liew Kung Yu and Chuah Chuan Yong on public art projects since bagging the Malaysian Emerging Artists awards in 2009. Wong Boon Ken