Color: Tsun-Shing Cheng solo exhibition

When Cheng went to France to study philosophy and photography in 1976, it was a transitional period in contemporary photography of the 1970s, where attempts were being made to replace black and white with color. It was during this time that he captured thousands of color photographs in Paris, in southern France, and across Eurasia. This body of work was never put on view or published. The artist never intended to take advantage of the booming export technology of the time to print them in mass. It was not until 2021 that this collection of color negatives, sealed away for over 40 years, was carefully curated by Cheng and his collaborator, Hsu Yu-Hsiang. Together they selected 70 pieces, and reproduced them with traditional silver halide printing techniques over the course of nearly three years. Forty-six of these works were on view at the Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival in 2023. Color, Cheng’s latest solo exhibition at TKG+ after a four-year hiatus, marks the artist’s first complete presentation of this entire body of 70 works.

To say Cheng revives the photographs with traditional techniques is an understatement: the countless hours and painstaking efforts he and Hsu have exerted in bringing these images to life prove it a rigorous task. Not to mention the expenses, equipment wear and tear, and tens of thousands of corrections in the process. With the techniques and photographic papers used back then nearly lost to history, the initial re-photography process of these 70 works alone took over a year. Each piece in the exhibition is the result of numerous equipment modifications, exposure calculations, and meticulous lens calibrations. Especially with traditional darkroom techniques, the success or failure is only revealed after the prints are finalized. If there is even the slightest deviation, everything must be redone, which further underscores the enormity of this undertaking and the rarity of each piece.

Behind the technicality lies Cheng’s nuanced mastery of light and his tenacious pursuit of color. While color and optics are established physical principles over the course of centuries, Cheng understands the inherent nature of such precepts as he quotes the Heart Sutra in his artist statement: the verse “form is emptiness” not only encapsulates his artistic intention, but highlights the illusory and subjective nature of color. When the light reflected from the surface of an object reaches our eyes, the color loses its potential for objective interpretation. This idea is closely tied to the artist’s insistence on traditional silver halide processing: after countless exposure experiments and parameter adjustments in the laborious printing process, the final image presents a moment captured by the artist’s eye in France all those years ago. Yet on another level, it instantiates the artist’s subjective perspective and pursuit of color and aesthetics.

The philosophical training Cheng received during his time in France has largely influenced his practice, allowing it to transcend formal concerns, while plumbing the essence of imagery to portray the human condition and spirituality. Free from excessive composition and post-production, his photography embraces an honest, grounded observation of moments. What he documents goes beyond the subject within the frame; it elicits the passage of light, the ambience, even laden memories.

It is because of Tsun-Shing Cheng’s yearning for authenticity that we are gifted with light, and with it, color.