Study: "Waterfall, Chelsea Hotel, NY"

1978

Study: "Waterfall, Chelsea Hotel, NY", 1978. Ching Ho Cheng (American, 1946–1989). Gouache ; image: 68 x 53.5 cm (26 3/4 x 21 1/16 in.); paper: 73.6 x 58.5 cm (29 x 23 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Ching Ho Cheng Estate 2011.15 © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Born to a Chinese diplomat family in Cuba, Ching Ho Cheng spent much of his career in New York City, where he was involved in the city’s artistic scene from the 1960s through the ‘80s. The style of his artworks varied widely through the decades, but he consistently preferred to work on paper, resulting in drawings such as this one. It belongs to a series that Ching created in opaque gouache presenting subtle, everyday subjects in exacting detail. Here, the artist represented the cracked paint and droplets of moisture in the shower of his then lover Gregory Millard at the famed Chelsea hotel, known at the time for its vibrant avant-garde social scene. The viewer is situated as if entering the shower, a vantage point that contributes to its poignant sense of stasis and quietude. Drawings such as this one have been described by Ching Ho Cheng’s sister, Sybao, as being “about contemplation and about self-transformation.”