2019 PROGRAMME
7 JUNE 2019 / INAUGURAL EXHIBITION
In this project, HOMELAND in TRANSIT, we have the pleasure to work with eight Hong Kong artists of multiple generations from different practices and backgrounds: Kitty CHOU, CHU Hing Wah, LEE Ka Sing, LEUNG Chi Wo, MAP Office, and three of whom, HUNG Fai, Lulu NGIE and WAI Pong Yu, created new works. Observing from Hong Kong perspectives, the meaning of ‘homeland’ was discussed with each of the artists and some of them traced back their ancestral histories and discovered stories which were not known to them before. Each work in the exhibition reflects a sense or aspect of identities, origins, territories, conflicts, orientations, instability, unsettledness in response to the ever-shifting definitions of homeland. Through 19 works of photography, ink art, drawings, videos, text-based work, books and light installation, the audience is invited to embark on a self-searching journey of their roots and stories.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
KITTY CHOU
born in Hong Kong 1961, lives and works in Hong Kong, New York, Paris
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Kitty Chou is engaged in the "accidental" photographic style of direct-instant capture. Chou’s first institutional solo exhibition ‘Cotidie - The Magic of Everyday’ opened at the National Museum of Natural History, Malta in 2015. Her selected solo exhibitions include ‘The Accidental Photographer: Line, Color & Perspective,’ New York School of Interior Design, New York, 2011; ‘Portrait Without Face,’ Rolls Royce Artist Series, Hong Kong, 2014; ‘An Exploration of Abstract Realism,’ Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, 2015; and ‘Countervision,’ Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong, 2017. Before starting her artistic career, Chou earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from the New York School of Interior Design. She was nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2013 and 2016.
Photo courtesy of the artist
CHU HING WAH 朱興華
Born in Guangdong Province in 1935, Chu Hing Wah moved with his family to Hong Kong in 1950. Alth2ough deeply interested in painting in his youth, Chu chose to train as a psychiatric nurse, pursuing his degree at Maudsley Hospital in London from 1960 to 1965. From this time on, his professional career and his art-making developed side by side. After his return to Hong Kong he worked in the field of psychiatric care for over 22 years at Castle Peak Psychiatric Hospital and Siu Lam Hospital. He completed a certificate course in Art and Design from the Extra-Mural Studies of the University of Hong Kong in 1972, and has been included multiple times in the ‘Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition’ presented by the Urban Council and ‘The Visual Arts Society Annual Exhibition’. In 1992, Chu retired from the nursing profession and has been working as a full-time professional artist ever since.
Chu’s major exhibitions include ‘Living in Compassion: The Art of Chu Hing Wah,’ Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, 2017; ‘Reunion,’ Rotunda, Exchange Square, Hong Kong, 2017; ‘Reappear: Chu Hing Wah Charity Exhibition’ for Orbis, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 2015; ‘Three Elders: Gaylord Chan, Chu Hing Wah and Luis Chan,’ Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, 2014; ‘West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre (Opening Exhibition),’ West Kowloon Cultural District, 2011; and ‘Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Works by Chu Hing Wah,’ The University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, 2011.
Photo credit: Angelika Li
HUNG FAI 熊輝
born in Hong Kong 1988, lives and works in Hong Kong
Hung Fai graduated from the Fine Arts Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013. His work focuses mainly on the field of contemporary ink art. Hung has developed unique expression and presentation techniques on both paper and canvas. Through the deconstruction of elements in traditional Chinese ink paintings, his works are reconstructed conceptually through a series of experimentation and transformation.
Hung has been exhibited in museums, institutions, galleries and art fairs including ‘The Weight of Lightness: Ink Art,’ M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2017; ‘Ink Painting. Two Cities – Shenzhen and Hong Kong Works Exhibition of Ink Painting and Metropolis,’ Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, 2016 & 2017; ‘The Twelfth National Exhibition of Fine Arts & Exhibition of Nominated Works for Chinese Fine Art Awards, Creative Awards,’ The National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2015; Art Basel, Hong Kong (2014-2019); Ink Asia (2015-2019); and Fine Art Asia (2013-2015). His solo exhibitions include ‘The Departing Landscape – Hung Fai Ink Project,’ (2016) and ‘Movement - Hung Fai’ (2014) both in Grotto Gallery, Hong Kong. Hung has received the Certificate of Merit - The Twelfth National Exhibition of Fine Arts, China 2014; Certificates of Merit - Hong Kong Art Prize 2013; and the Wucius Wong Creative Ink Painting Award 2013. His work is in the collections of M+ Museum for Visual Culture, Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, as well as various private collections.
Photo credit: WAI Pong Yu
LEE KA SING 李家昇
born in Hong Kong 1954, lives and works in Toronto, Canada
Lee Ka Sing is a photo-based artist and the co-founder of DISLOCATION, a former independent photography magazine. In 1989, he was awarded “Artist of the Year” by Hong Kong Artists’ Guild. In 1999, he received the Fellowship for Artistic Development by Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Selected monographs include ‘Thirty-one Photographs’, Photo Art, 1993; ‘Forty Poems, photographs 1995-98,’ Ocean & Pounds, Hong Kong Arts Development Council publication grant, 1998; ‘The Language of Fruits and Vegetables,’ Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 2004; ‘De ci de là des choses,’ Editions You-Feng, 2006. His work is in private and public collections including Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan; M+ Museum, Hong Kong and Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
Photo courtesy of the artist
LEUNG CHI WO 梁志和
born in Hong Kong 1968, works and lives in Hong Kong
Leung Chi Wo is a visual artist whose reflective practice combines historical exploration with conceptual inquiry within a contemporary urban landscape. Ranging from photography and video to text, performance and installation, he is concerned with the undetermined relationship between conception, perception and understanding, especially in relation to site and history within cultural/political frameworks. His practice always involves research into different contexts and situations, and the artistic outcomes linked to the hidden relationships of various subjects. His site-specific project was featured in the first Hong Kong pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2001. His works have been exhibited in major international museums and institutions including Tate Modern in London, NRW Forum in Dusseldorf, Museu da Imagem e do Som in São Paulo and biennales in Shanghai, Busan and Manchester, among others. He had his first survey exhibition at OCT Contemporary Art Terminal in Shenzhen, China in 2015. His work has been featured in reviewed internationally including in Yishu, Artforum International, Art Review, Leap, ArtAsiaPacific and New York Times.
Leung is co-founder of Para/Site Art Space and he was visiting artist at the Institut Kunst of Hochschule Luzern and Ecole Cantonale d’Art du Valais in Switzerland; Monash University, Melbourne and Australian National University; as well as other academies and universities. He has also participated in artist-in-residence programmes in New York, Banff, Vienna and Sapporo. Leung has been Associate Professor in the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong since 2010. His work has been extensively collected in private and public collections including M+ Museum, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Photo credit: Sara Wong
MAP OFFICE
Laurent Gutierrez, born in Casablanca 1966
Valérie Portefaix, born in Saint-Étienne 1969
both live and work in Hong Kong
MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Gutierrez and Portefaix. This duo of artists has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imaginary territories using varied means of expression. MAP Office projects have been shown in over 100 exhibitions at venues including the MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Georges Pompidou Centre (Paris) and the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art (Beijing), around 35 Biennales and Trienniales around the world with five contributions to the Venice Biennale in Art and Architecture (2000, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010). Their cross-disciplinary practice has been the subject of a monograph, ‘MAP OFFICE – Where the Map is the Territory’ (2011).
MAP Office received the Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2013. Their recent research projects have a strong focus on ocean and have been shown internationally, including ‘The Story of Amanami,’ Triennale di Milano 2019; ‘Ghost Island.’ inaugural Thailand Biennale 2018; ‘Islands, Constellations and Galapagos,’ Yokohama Biennale 2017; ‘Desert Islands,’ Singapore Biennale 2016. Their work has been collected internationally by private and private institutions including M+ Museum, Hong Kong; FRAC / Institut d’Art Contemporain (IAC), Villeurbanne, France; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China; Deutsche Bank Collection, Hong Kong; Momentum Collection, Berlin; MIACA, Tokyo.
Image courtesy of the artist
LULU NGIE 倪鷺露
born in Fujian 1972, lives and works in Hong Kong
Lulu Ngie delights in studying the human psyche as expressed through a person’s body language: how we stand, sit, lie and move, however subtly, reveals what we think and feel. When experiencing uncomfortable emotions such as acute embarrassment, anxiety or fear, we often try to protect ourselves by seeking distractions or rationalising our feelings. Sometimes we try to laugh it off. These and other coping mechanisms are almost instinctive. Just as the physical body can heal itself after suffering an injury, the mind, too, has the ability to recover its balance after a trauma. The desire to protect ourselves is strong in all living beings. Ngie shares her fascination in this often unnoticed but powerful part of our mental world.
Ngie graduated from Hong Kong Art School with a major in painting in 2006. Her recent solo exhibitions include ‘Fictitious Force’, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, USA, 2018; ART021 2016, Shanghai, 2016; Fine Art Asia 2015, Hong Kong, 2015; day after day after day, Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong, 2013. Her work has also been exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong (2013-2019) and group exhibitions including Roh Project, Jakarta, 2018;《無何有之香》, The House of HK Literature FooTak, Hong Kong, 2017; and Deep Silence《靜聽深度》, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, 2017.
Photo credit: Hilda Chan
WAI PONG YU 韋邦雨
born in Hainan Island, China 1982, lives and works in Hong Kong
Wai Pong Yiu moved to Hong Kong from Hainan Island at the age of 2. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2006. Wai has developed his own oeuvre with ink from ballpoint pen on paper, spinning the thread of his emotion and mind continuously as one line as it multiplies in rhizomatic manner. His subject matter often relates to the notion of the cosmos, time, nature, across the fields of juxtapositions and metaphysical forms.
Wai’s work has been collected internationally by public museums and institutions including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. His recent exhibitions include his collaborative project with Hung Fai in ‘Same Line Twice’ Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong, 2017; ‘The Spirit of Ink: 12 Hong Kong Artists’ Sotheby’s Gallery, Hong Kong, 2013; ‘New Ink, An Exhibition of Ink Art by Post 1970 Artists from Yiqingzhai Collection’ Sotheby’s Gallery, Hong Kong, 2013. Solo exhibitions include ‘Moment of Truth - The Synergy of Ink’ (2013) and ‘Ceaseless Lines’ (2009) both at Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong. His works have also been shown at Art Basel (2015-2019), Ink Asia (2015-2019), Fine Art Asia (2015-2017), Asia Week, New York (2015) and SCOPE, New York (2013).
Photo courtesy of the artist