Luke Heng’s Non-Place series is meditative—both ephemeral and emergent, echoing his time-consuming, repetitive and meditative process. Heng’s practice is guided by his interest in traditional Chinese Medicine as he comes from a family of Chinese physicians. Concepts from the I-Ching (Book of Changes) and yin yang philosophies govern his thoughts and judgment during his painting process, guiding his manipulation of different elements in his works to maintain a certain sense of visual harmony.

Non-Place an ongoing series where the artist dwells within the infinite space of a painting. Heng creates his own colours from pigments and superimposes layers upon layers (up to 30) of paint, patiently waiting for each layer to dry whilst working with the material as it appears on the canvas. To finish, Heng painstakingly pours turpentine on the surface, producing the effect of ethereal brushstrokes which are in fact void spaces left behind after the paint ran off. A technique that is both time consuming and laborious.

Once processing the ‘lines’ as a point of reference with the possibility to demarcate spaces, the artist noticed a shift in how they operate, appearing rather ghostly as of late. Instead of using the forms as an architectural construct, unwittingly, the artist became a distant observer of an event and at times, wandering amongst the shadows. The artist plays with depth, perspective, and void spaces, hovering close to abstraction, creating what the artist’s refers to as a “resting space” for the mind.