New York Art Gallery Celebrates the Chinese New Year with Enter the Dragon

Online, January 12, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Elisa Contemporary Art presents a new pop-up gallery and public art exhibit, Enter the Dragon, at Sotheby's International Realty (Riverdale, NY). It features the artwork of two female Chinese artists: Shanghai-born Mimi Chen Ting and Taiwan-born Amy Cheng. The exhibit runs from January 6 through March 31, 2012.

The exhibit takes place during the Chinese New Year and is a tribute to the upcoming Year of the Dragon. It Is an exhibit of new discoveries and new beginnings and will debut new work from both artists including Mimi Chen Ting's "Twists and Turns" series and Amy Cheng's "Mandala" series.

About Mimi Chen Ting's "Twist and Turns" series
The work of Mimi Chen Ting has a strong rhythmic quality drawn from her passion for dance and a child-like playfulness. There are curves that wind up, across and away from her canvases. According to Mimi, "My perspective is derived from an early foundation in Chinese calligraphy. I have a very un-Western view - I see up, down, left, right ...in positive and negative...dancing off the plane".

Her "Twist and Turns" series sums up her emotions towards the natural mishaps and political events that emerge in the world around her. The works help her bear witness to significant occurrences which are beyond her control. While emotional feelings and responses are intangible and too intricate to encapsulate on canvases, harnessing them and materializing them aesthetically have become Mimi's quest for life.

She usually begins with gestural drawings. After alternating layers of paint and charcoal, specific shapes and colors start to emerge. She focuses on the areas that most resonate with her and these lines and colors become the bedrock for expansion and deliberation. The other areas are then either erased or hidden.

About Amy Cheng's "Mandala" series
Amy Cheng's "Mandala" series was inspired by six months spent in Brazil in 2010 on a Fulbright Fellowship. In this latest series, Amy creates abstract, mandala inspired paintings that metaphorically emulate the vitality of life force. She creates voluminous spheres woven within a decorated, layered realm of shimmering light and saturated color. According to Amy, "When I contemplate the energy of life force I think of cells and cell divisions, the universe forming itself out of dust, seeds blooming into plants, all which tend to emerge jewel-like, diaphanous, seductive and playful."

Amy's inspirations come from a variety of traditional sources, Eastern, Middle Eastern and Western. She is interested in having the viewer contemplate tensions and paradoxes - micro vs. macro, natural vs. manmade, outward vs. inward, force vs. resistance, and what wants to exist vs. the forces that want to control existence.

Hosting Two Special Events:
We're hosting two special events during the Enter the Dragon exhibit.

An evening on Feng Shui design principles presented by Feng Shui architect, designer, author and teacher, RD Chin. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese system for positioning a building and the objects within a building in a way that is thought to agree with spiritual forces and to bring increased health, prosperity and happiness. It will take place on Wednesday, February 8th from 7-9 pm.

The second is an Artists talk with Amy Cheng on Wednesday, March 21 from 7-9 pm.

* What: Enter the Dragon, a pop-up gallery from Elisa Contemporary Art at Sotheby's International Realty
*When: January 6 through March 31, 2012
*Special Events:
* Feng Shui Principles presented by Feng Shui Master, RD Chin on February 8 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm
* Artist Talk with Amy Cheng on Wednesday, March 21st from 7:00 - 9:00 pm
*Where: Sotheby's International Realty, 3732 Riverdale Avenue, Lower Level, Riverdale NY 10463.
*Hours: Daily from 10 am - 5pm

Enter the Dragon will be on exhibit at Sotheby's International Realty (Riverdale), 3732 Riverdale Avenue, Lower Level, Riverdale NY 10463. Exhibit dates are January 6th, 2012 - March 31, 2012. The viewing hours are daily 10 am - 5pm.

Meet our artists:

Amy Cheng
Amy Cheng's work is about the heart's longing to be connected to the largeness of life and the timeless arc of the universe. In her fluid and evocative style, Amy merges Western painting with the Eastern sensibilities of her heritage. Born in Taiwan, raised in Brazil, and educated in the US, Amy has developed a painting vocabulary influenced by the interplay of divergent cultures - but with a fresh, contemporary view of our connectedness to the world.

The work of Amy Cheng has been widely exhibited throughout the US and internationally. In 2011, Amy created two public art commissions including "Nucleic Life Formation" at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport MetroLink Station. The abstract designs are suggestive of striated night skies crossed by a constellation of "stars" that loosely mimic a DNA double helix. She also created four laminated glass windows for the platform of the 25th Avenue Subway Station in Brooklyn. The commission entitled "Rediscovery" refers to the largeness of life and the wondrous mystery of the world.

Mimi Chen Ting
Shanghai-born, Hong-Kong raised, Mimi Chen Ting came to the US to attend college and has been exhibiting her work since 1970. The varieties of cultural experiences continue to enhance her modernist expression. According to Mimi, "When I enter my studio, I am like an irrepressible child, capable of boundless possibilities. Whether I am painting, drawing or making prints, the processes are constant. I lay down my lines and colors and coax them to percolate and distill until they dance and sing beyond the physical, uncover new depths and insights I do not consciously seek and always, carry me further than I imagine."

Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the US, Hong Kong and abroad including the Albuquerque Museum (NM), San Jose Museum of Art (CA), Harwood Museum (NM), Colorado Museum of Contemporary Art (CO) and the American Embassy in Malaysia and at the Hague in the Netherlands.

About Feng Shui Master, RD Chin
R.D. Chin is a full-time Feng Shui Architect who is currently licensed as a New York State architect, NCIDQ interior designer, author and teacher. Mr. Chin trained and worked with the late Paul Rudolph as an architect and further expanded his knowledge of the interior design field working with interior designer, Nina Hughes.

In 1993, Mr. Chin initially founded Space Alignment; it is now called RD Chin, Feng Shui Architect, an architectural design consultant practice in New York City. He is also the author of Feng Shui Reveled.

About Elisa Contemporary Art
Elisa Contemporary Art represents a portfolio of both emerging and established contemporary artists, many of whom have work in the permanent collections of major museums and corporations.

Founded in 2007 by Lisa Cooper, Elisa Contemporary Art is dedicated to promoting the appreciation and collection of art as a way to enrich and heal our lives, our communities, and the world. The Riverdale gallery opened in September 2008. Elisa Contemporary Art has participated in high end art fairs in New York, Miami and the Hamptons, and curated five public art exhibits in Manhattan, as well as an online exhibit for 2011 CurateNYC. Lisa Cooper is also an art consultant.

A portion of every gallery sale is donated to philanthropic organizations that help children and families within underserved communities heal and grow through their experience with art. Free Arts NYC, Arts to Grow and Creative Arts Workshops for Kids are supported.

For more information, visit the website at www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com or contact Lisa Cooper at Lisa@ElisaArt.com or 212.729.4974.

The Riverdale Gallery is located at 5622 Mosholu Avenue, Riverdale NY 10471.