Bernice Bing

Burney Falls

During the 1960s, the late queer, Chinese American painter Bernice “Bingo” Bing visited Burney Falls, a 129-foot-tall waterfall in Northern California. Bing attempted to capture the breathtaking view of the cascading water and moss-covered, volcanic basalt rock cliffs in her 1980 painting Burney Falls. The large composition contains stylistic elements characteristic of Abstract Expressionism, such as gestural brushstrokes, a sense of motion, and the use of a minimal color palette. In Burney Falls, Bing infuses the techniques and aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy and landscape ink paintings within her abstract format. As she grew up in mostly white foster homes and thus disconnected from her Chinese heritage, Bing used her artistic practice as a means of reconnecting with her Asian identity.