T. L. Cheung
Setúbal, Portugal
Biography
T.L. Cheung grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to New York to pursue her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute. In 2025, she relocated to Setúbal, Portugal, a coastal port city south of Lisbon.
A multi-media artist by nature, she refuses to be confined to any particular medium, choosing instead to see media as an artistic vehicle for a larger discourse — the exploration of self and the individual's place in society. Using common, ancient, and personal mythologies, her work asks what identity means in an increasingly fractured world.
The process of archaeology plays a central role in her practice: scraping away at various layers to expose the hidden yet often universal construct, creating new geographies, and revealing structures. Her vision focuses on the storied life of things — finding the bones beneath the corporeal.
Statement
I have a minimalist's nature. I don't like clutter; I do like compiling objects and creating an order for them. More importantly, the process of searching for the hidden structure that lies underneath — finding the 'bones' beneath the corporeal — has become my objective. For me, the process of making work is akin to the process of archaeology: scraping away at the various layers, exposing the hidden yet often universal construct, creating a new geography, a new structure.
Education
- MFA
- Sculpture. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
- BA
- Design & Industry. San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Solo Exhibitions
- 2023
- Perceptual Measurements.Bob Jackson Gallery, The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
Select Exhibitions
- 2022
- Members' Choice. The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
- 2021
- Less is More, More is Less. The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
New Now IV. InLiquid, Philadelphia, PA
InLiquid Annual Benefit. InLiquid, Philadelphia, PA - 2020
- Small Favors. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Our Community. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Without a Brush. The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA - 2019
- Beneath the Surface. The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
Annual Small Works Show. The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
Stories to Tell. The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA - 2018
- Small Favors. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Dear Fleisher. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA - 2017
- Lost & Found. Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
Small Favors. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA - 2016
- Dear Fleisher. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
- 2015
- Group Show. One Johnson & Johnson Plaza, New Brunswick, NJ
- 2014
- Small Favors. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Dear Fleisher. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Curatorial Experience
- 2008
- Mash-Up: An Exhibition of Collaborative Ceramics.Red Ink Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Fellowships & Residencies
- 1994
- Summer Residency Fellowship, Heitzmann Foundation, Hamburg, Germany
Grants & Panels
- 2016–2018
- Grants Panelist, PA Partners in the Arts Project Stream
- 2000
- New York State Arts Council, Design & Crafts Grant
Memberships
- 2020–2024
- InLiquid, Philadelphia, PA
- 2019–2024
- The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA(Board Member from March 2021 to 2024)