Opening: Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 6:00pm
Exhibition Period: April 30 - May 30, 2010
Venue: Amelia Johnson Contemporary, g/f 6-10 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
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Amelia Johnson Contemporary is extremely proud to present the first solo exhibition of young Hong Kong artist, Tang Kwok Hin.
Tang Kwok Hin is a rising star of the Hong Kong art scene. His work is attracting interest from collectors and curators alike and he is fast becoming one of the most talked about Hong Kong artists of his generation, with a reputation for creating thought provoking work heavily infused with a local flavor.
In 2009, he won First Prize at the Hong Kong Biennale. For his first solo exhibition, entitled Containers as Evidence of Presence, Tang explores the idea that nothing can exist independently of anything else, even something as intangible as the air is defined by its material container. Containers give protection to the things being contained, at the same time they offer conditions of existence: sometimes they need to be opened, for instance, a gift box or a treasure chest; sometimes they are hidden or out of sight. The works in the exhibition depict the artist's fascination with the interdependent relationship of containers and the contained.
This exhibition focuses primarily on Tang's recent collage works, the elements and materials of which are drawn from daily life and the Internet. He often uses photographs that are taken near his house, in a traditional walled village, in both daylight and nighttime. By googling the keyword of “Container” on the Internet, he obtained hundreds of images that relate and associate with the word container, like a bus, drug bottle, telephone etc. By reconstructing and rearranging the elements he creates an imagined virtual cityscape whose inhabitants are involved in a narrative that plays out across layers of glass and plexi. Interesting stories are being created under varied circumstances, unlimited possibilities are waiting to be discovered and transformed.
Tang Kwok Hin was born and raised in Hong Kong. He studied Fine Art at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and received his Master of Fine Arts in 2008. Although a recent graduate Hin’s work is fast gaining recognition within the Hong Kong art scene. Hin’s work comprises photographs of intricate imaginary landscapes using ready-made elements appropriated from printed and electronic media and product labels. As well as working part-time as a visual arts teacher at the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Hong Kong, Hin is also forging a reputation in Hong Kong as an independent curator and writer.
單一的物事不能擁有恆久而獨立自存的流動形態；書籍儲存於書架；酒要放進玻璃樽內；流水需要靜止不動的沿岸依靠才能構成溪河；即便空氣，亦要有著作為星體的地球將其寄存及承載。這些具有相若於保護功能的東西，提供受保護者一個存在的狀態：有須要打開發現的，如禮物盒、寶箱；有隱密於視線之外的，透過我們生活的經驗去感知內藏的物事，如花瓶裡的水、房屋內的傢具。
它們都是容器。再細心一看，容器大致可以分為兩種形式，一種是持續的，如汽車、錢包，內容不斷在內更替，見證著一種帶有紀錄意味的結果；另一種是消費的，當容器內的東西被消費或使用過後，就會剩下顯示出其原初狀態的包裝方法或外貌，並提供若干資料訴說已然消失的東西的特性，如產品盒上的說明、酒瓶上的招紙。鄧氏為容器及其內藏事物間相互依賴的狀態所吸引，兩者影響著各自的形態、功能、外貌、符號等等，故事在當中無聲息地建立起可被發掘及轉化的可能。
這個展覽的作品形式主要是拼貼，素材來自幾方面，包括在日與夜的不同時分於其住所附近拍攝的房屋照片，以反映工作與作息間人類的生活模式及室內環境的轉變；以聯想及相關容器的關鍵詞在互聯網上找尋圖片，如巴士、藥瓶，嘗試從虛擬的搜尋器建構的準則裡，獲得第三者對觀看容器的角度及視點，然後經自身重塑及整理一些想象的畫面；另搜集了60枝不同的酒，然後透過雕刻、拍照及電腦製造出一個虛構的都市環境，探討酒後醉醺意圖逃離現世生活的痴想等等。
