Jessica Cheng is the first Chinese-Costarican sculptress, who was born and raised in a traditional Chinese family in Costa Rica. Her artwork reflects the combination of both cultures, showing the duality in which she lives day by day. Being a “hybrid” one could say she belongs and doesn’t belong to the Chinese and Costa Rican culture. The concept of her work revolves around alienation and contradiction themes.

Her artwork combines different techniques such as modeling, carving, forging, embossing, foundry, etc. She uses traditional and non-traditional sculpture materials such as wood, iron, copper, bronze, clay, stone, ferrocement and others. Cheng uses all this to express her vision about emotions, feelings and human behavior.

Jessica Cheng graduated from the University of Costa Rica in 2010, under the teachings of Costa Rican sculptor Mario Parra. One of her most outstanding concepts is the internal struggle over individuality and the return to the original being; this concept has been developed by her since the beginning of her career.

Since 2010 she had a strong passion for the handling of metal, which was used to start her series “The Disalienation”, made using pigmented ferrocement, engraving, forging and embossing of iron and copper. This series projects the critical moment of the releasing of a social disguise. She feels that every person carries deep within them a need to belong to a specific community but when that disalienation occurs we go back to our own selves. The sculptress gives herself as an example of being Chinese and not accepted by the Oriental community as one of them, but as a Costa Rican which before their eyes is a Chinese. Once discovered that she was struggling to belong without success, she released all those disguises she used to carry to walk within each culture and now decides to be herself: a “hybrid” that shares both cultures and belongs to herself.

From the national and international exhibits, symposiums and festivals in which she has been part of, we can mention the following:

2015

• XVI Fine Arts Fair, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• XVII Flowers of the African Diaspora and other cultures Festival, Moravia, Costa Rica.
• IV Exhibition and Auction “Arte Mujer”, Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica, Santa Ana, Costa Rica.
• II International Sculpture Symposium “Art and tradition”, Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

2014

• XV Fine Arts Fair, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• Chinese-Costarican art exhibit, International Chinese culture Festival, National Stadium, La Sabana, Costa Rica.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, Eugenius Gallery, Windsor, Australia.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, Space of Arts and Performance, Belle-Artes, Cáceres, Spain.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, IVS Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, Odd One Out Gallery, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, Zahoor ul Azhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore,

2013

• “The Disalienation”, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• VIII Latin-American Design encounter, University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• National Art Festival, Sculpture Symposium, Santa Ana, Costa Rica.
• “Viva el Arte 2013”, Art Fair, Curridabat, Costa Rica.
• “Coesão Escultural”, sculpture exhibit, Brazilian Studies Institute, Santa Ana, Costa Rica.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, Casa de Los Tres Mundos Gallery, Granada, Nicaragua.
• “Posada Century”, La Calaca Press III International Print Exchange, Atelier International Art Gallery, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States of America.
• “Dreams”, VI Annual Print Exhibition, Mexico Institute Gallery, Costa Rica.

2012

• “The Carnival“, V Annual Print Exhibition, Mexico Institute Gallery, Costa Rica.
• “Viva el Arte 2012”, Art Fair, Curridabat, Costa Rica.

2011

• “Relieves”, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Costa Rica.
• “Nostalgia”, IV Annual Print Exhibition, Mexico Institute Gallery, Costa Rica.

2010

• “The Origin of Death”, III Annual Print Exhibition, Mexico Institute Gallery, Costa Rica.
• “Stone”, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• Opening Exhibition, Florencia Gallery, Escazú, Costa Rica.
• “Metals”, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.

2009

• “Faces of Pandemia”, II Annual Print Exhibition, Mexico Institute Gallery, Costa Rica.
• “Wood Sculptures”, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• “Wood relieves”, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• X Fine Arts Fair, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.