Tracie Cheng, “Who We Used to Be”

There are so many layers to the narrative of our lives, and the memories that help to form them often come together like patchwork; a series of varied snapshots of a complex life—at times so clear it’s as if you’re reliving the moment, and then it begins to fade and becomes fuzzy at best. It’s a sacred act, stitching different, sometimes contradictory, areas of our lives together and believing in faith that it will unfold into a unified story of us. Perhaps it’s a scene that transports you back to those perfect summer beach days growing up, the soft sand, the wispy beach grass, the sky aglow with the remnants of the sun, or maybe it’s the embrace of culture and heritage and all the stories that came before and all the stories to come. These paintings focus in on a moment caught in time, piecing together fragments, and smoothing out the hard edges of our memories.

Tracie Cheng is a Taiwanese American artist weaving lines and paint into dynamic visual dreamscapes. Resembling nature, fractals, patterns and forms, Tracie’s paintings are inspired by all the incredible and regular things we experience in a life, and are continually being shaped by the beauty and intricacies of the different cultures and stories around her. With a background in architecture, Tracie has repurposed her spatial sensibilities towards forming delightfully new environments unknown, playful and graceful landscapes that bring you on a journey of familiarity and challenge to your imagination.