Johnson Chang Tsong-Zung
1999

Chen Heng is sentimental towards the past, not just in a nostalgic yearning for its lost beauty, but for the sake of describing a purity that is yet uncontaminated by worldliness and experience. In his paintings he attempts to arrest the fleeting changes wrought by time and make permanent poignant moments, such as when sunlight gives life to a silent courtyard or falling footsteps make endless a winding alley. In their atmospheric imagery, Chen’s paintings bring to mind the work of Balthus, although Chen is less interested in a precocious sexual awakening than in the natural beauty of innocence.