Fading Flowers consists of two paintings of the same bouquet, made by Fang Ting Ting at different stages in 2016. In the first, she recorded the flowers and leaves as they wilted and fell. In the second, she used thick, forceful lines to give strength to the withered stems and leaves. Between the two paintings, recording became an active intervention: through painting, she sought to preserve the vitality of flowers that would soon disappear.
Fading Flowers I, 2016, oil on canvas, approx. 60 x 80 cm
Fading Flowers II, 2016
Oil on canvas, approx. 60 x 60 cm
Fading Flowers II, 2016, oil on canvas, approx. 60 x 60 cm
Cow and Calf, 2016
Oil on canvas, approx. 120 x 80 cm
Cow and Calf grew from a nursing scene Fang Ting Ting witnessed while observing cattle for her graduation project. She used broad, thick, continuous brushstrokes to build the cow’s back, bone structure and outline. Smaller, broken strokes convey the calf’s soft coat. The contrast between the cow’s solid body and the calf nestled beneath her gives this quiet moment a sense of weight, intimacy and vitality.
The Shepherd of Shenyang, 2015–2016
Oil on canvas, approx. 300 x 200 cm
The Shepherd of Shenyang is Fang Ting Ting’s undergraduate graduation painting, completed in 2015–2016. Seeking to preserve her memories of living in Shenyang, she repeatedly visited grazing land on the city’s outskirts. She made sketches and colour studies of the cattle, people and surroundings, then reworked the composition in her studio from memory and her impressions of the place. Thick layers of paint and forceful brushstrokes give form to the cattle’s bodies, their curious glances, and the relationship between the figure and the sloping land. The painting conveys the simplicity, hardship and enduring vitality she sensed there.
Artist’s Note
My impression of Shenyang came largely from my university painting teacher, Professor Wang Renxiang. Despite serious hardships in his health and personal life, he kept a regular painting routine. He would rise at four or five in the morning and often paint until nine or ten at night, sometimes eleven. Even on days when he planned to go out for a drink, he would paint until five or six in the afternoon. His simplicity, resolve and the weight of his lived experience were what I wanted to bring into my graduation painting.
To find a scene that could carry these feelings, I travelled by bus and on foot to the city’s remote edges, where I happened upon this grazing land. It looked very different from the Shenyang I knew, yet it was still part of Shenyang. The posture and expression of a herder passing beside me helped me recognise what I wanted to paint.
I returned repeatedly to the grazing land, bringing sketches and colour studies back to the studio. As I made the final changes to the painting, my strongest memory was of how it felt to be there. Colours, light and the positions of things could change with that feeling, as I wanted to preserve Shenyang as I had experienced it.
Colour study for The Shepherd of Shenyang.
Women of the Plateau, 2016
Oil on canvas, approx. 100 x 150 cm
The figures and basic composition of Women of the Plateau came from a photograph Fang Ting Ting encountered at the time. In the painting, she reworked the relationship between the figures and their surroundings. She built up the dark background with broad brushstrokes, allowing light and earlier marks to show through the layers. She then worked slowly on the faces, hands and clothing. Broad strokes and fine details support one another, giving the figures a quiet strength and a solid presence within the dark space.
Hainan Landscape I, 2016
Oil on canvas, approx. 100 x 80 cm
Hainan Landscape I was painted during Fang Ting Ting’s stay of over a month in Hainan in early 2016. She used directional, overlapping brushstrokes to organise the tropical vegetation and convey the movement of leaves and branches. Two chickens that happened to enter her view appear in the lower right. She established their forms with a few strokes, then added details with the end of the brush handle. Their movement and white feathers interrupt the expanse of green. Together with the vegetation, they create a stable triangular composition, bringing a fleeting moment of animal life into the structure of the painting.
Fang Ting Ting painting in Hainan, China, 2016.