Sunday 10 March 2024



Expedition Self | Homage to Aldo Rossi


Title: Expedition Self 

Dimensions: 21.5x16x21cm or 8.5”x6.25”x8.25” (LxWxH)

Medium: Paper collage, acrylics on cement and resin

Year: 2024

 

This paper collage and painted sculpture is a tribute to the Teatro del Mondo by Aldo Rossi.  Dramas and other performances were held in this floating theatre amid journeys throughout the Venice Biennale, 1979-80.  The architect used the discourse of travelling and stage to signify life journeys for his passengers.  This sculpture examines the duality of realism and fantasy through the toy-like theatre, much like the great tradition of modern Italian cinema.

 Other than Venice, showboats could be located from the major rivers of the US to the waterways of southern Asia in the past.

See you on http://www.edwardtsui.ca by end May, 2024.

 


#concretesculpture #architecturalsculpture #aldorossi #floatingtheatre #teatrodelmondo #edwardtsui #architecturalart

 

Wednesday 23 November 2022

 


When my family and I relocated to Toronto in July 2016, I thought Artswise might have reached the end of its road.  Six years on, I can now correct myself in saying that the blog has entered a new phase under the premises of Studio Petite Follies.  Same as before by throwing in topics related to the arts, this new platform would also provide updates on my sculptures.  Below are the links to my studio’s Instagram and Facebook pages.  The official website will be announced soon.

Wednesday 22 June 2016

Untying Social Fabric - Kwan Sheung Chi




Automatic doors through which a visitor's journey begins.


Pins on the floor casually representing the Hong Kong identity.


Floor plan of Kwan's work on the left.


You arrive in the exhibition venue.  Being drawn by the presence of this white room, you find two doors operated by sensors.  One door is facing the entrance carpeted locally with plenty of pins with the shape of the Hong Kong flag.  The other door, tucked in on a more obscure side of this triangular enclosure, provides an alternative point of entry.  If you have temperament like me, you might choose this entrance instead of stepping on the pins to make a more pronounced ingress.


The triangular room is a transition to the closed space.


The closed space with a globe.


The globe shows an enlarged atlas of the Hong Kong territory only.


Upon entering through the automatic doors, the triangle-shaped space automatically lit up by a fluorescent column within.  Claustrophobic with unpleasant white light that turns itself off as soon as movement is ceased, you are instinctively prompted to find a way out.  The only door, again with automatic sensor, will lead you to the final room. There, full height and filled with warm lights, a paper globe on a mirrored surface of a white stand is found.  You take a closer look and it is revealed that the 'globe' only makes up of the geographical extent of the territory of Hong Kong and nowhere else.




Who cares if there is no way out!


At one corner of this enclosure, the uncut paper 'globes' are ready to be taken home for re-assembly.  Should you be ready to get out, you realize that on this side of the room there is no sensor installed and you cannot leave at will.  You are stuck.  Feeling puzzled or agitated perhaps, you look for solutions; and at this point in time the artist equipped with closed circuit cameras awaits your responses.  Among other options, one can yell for help, wait for others to come in then sneak out, or waves hand towards the cameras (as I did). 


Whirlwind tour of the enclosures.


Analogous to the current political stalemate of Hong Kong, the artist - Kwan Sheung Chi with his installation tricks his viewers away from their comfort zones to confront themselves with reactions in this closed space.  In this participatory work, the audience are encouraged to seek their own solutions just as our city has to untangle itself from inner conflicts.  Given the recent civil unrests, calls for constitutional changes and even bickering on options of self-rule, there is an growing urgency of people including Kwan to focus on the serious subject of Hong Kong's future. 


Some cautious visitors with observation mode switched on.


To quote from the curatorial statement on the artist - Kwan devises accessible works which he deems "necessary" by bringing perspective and clarity to the context, underlined by a sardonic view of the vicissitudes of daily life.  With the artist's unique visual language, the curated works both old [the globe] and new [the installation] sharply address Hong Kong's culture, identity and future with deadpan irony, an issue close to the hearts of many Hong Kong people.


A journey that leads nowhere as foretold by the author.


In my two visits, anti-climax above all else was what I could gather from the audience. Indifference to the closed space was the mainstay while fun-seeking and selfies were other expressive responses; and this was confirmed after chatting with the staff of the exhibition.    High order thinking was all but lacking.  In this installation-cum-experiment, only the artist and curators know best regarding public's responses, given the recorded data they manage to gather subsequently.  If 'deadpan irony' of the locals was Kwan's preoccupation, the installation manages to reveal the embarrassing truth of the audience's participation - "a journey that leads nowhere" (a statement he makes in the gallery's official website).   Perhaps this has been anticipated by Kwan, the revelation is his intent.

It is believed that this is one work among others to come in the current political crossroad Hong Kong is faced with. Personally speaking, due to my leaving of this city for family reunion in Canada, the work has an extra dimension that is very close to heart. I, never being indifferent nor without a standpoint on most issues, may be seen as taking an exit.  Admittedly, this is my action regardless of circumstances, timely or otherwise.  It is regrettable, and perhaps damnable to many.  Various thoughts will remain restless within me for a long time to come.






Social Fabric
22 March to 21 April, 2016 
Mill 6 Spring Exhibition, Hong Kong








Friday 15 April 2016

Homo Sapiens, Nikolaus Geyrhalter





(imageTimothy Allen)


The work examines progress without retrogression. It is dark with hints of romanticism, inert yet stimulating. There is plenty of otherworldliness but familiar icons are abound.



(imagewww.darbiansphotography.com)

Goya's luster might shine on Lavier's car installation here, but minus the stunt. The whole scene throws perplexing questions to the mind, rather than light so to say. Undisclosed in the film, it is a mysterious car grave, manifested itself in an abandoned mine in Gwynedd, Wales.



(imagewww.nj.com)

Among others, the waterlogged imagery is equally indelible. If Ansel Adams were to celebrate nature, Geyrhalter would question our relationship with it.  Hurricane Sandy in 2012 provides such lead for the above.



(imagewww.where-is-this.com)

At times, sounds of buzzing insects or flapping birds flurried between the ears make a lasting impression. Thanks to the 5.1 sound effects and admitted by the director as audio mixing, they captivate the audience more effectively than roaring thunders.



(imageChris Luckhardt@flickr)

The 94 minutes of shootings, tells forbidden stories without words or music. The interiors of dwellings on Hashima Island (commonly known as Battleship Island) leave plenty of pause for thoughts.



 (imageArkadiusz Podniesinski)


'Homo Sapiens' is a film only in format, documentary for the convenience of classification. It is disquietingly art-house, so much so that it does not have a dialogue but still requires an admission ticket.




'Homo Sapiens' - an official clip




'Homo Sapiens' by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, was part of the collection of films shown during the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) in April, 2016.


Note: The stills above are selected from the internet due to the lack of official materials from the film. Credits as shown above.








Tuesday 15 December 2015

Moments of truth, according to Tsui Kuang-Yu



Reality is day-to-day absurdities meted out, only we are too used to them.

Satires make better sense of real life, Shakespeare knows that.

In modern art, the Dadaists spearhead a new tradition; and until now, good humour, still stings the hardest.


A Hudson River dinner like it never is… 


An Arc de Triomphe selfie like it never is…


The Statue of Liberty, or perhaps Keith Richards like 
they never are…


An Eiffel Tower couple…

Tsui Kuang-Yu, Invisible City: Taiparis York
Video with sound 5’03”, 2008



The above video work (abridged in respect of copyright) was present in the joint exhibition under the title of Familiar Otherness: Art Across Northeast Asia

10.12.2015 – 17.1.2016, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre




Try “Rubbing the City: Beautiful Dirty Bubble” below, 
for more of him.









我說真就真” , 崔廣宇

現實乃日復日的荒誕, 只是我們已見怪不怪.

譏諷始能反映生活, 沙翁最曉得.

在現代藝術裡, 達達主義者另闢新蹊. 迄今, 幽默這刺針還是最具殺傷力.


克遜河畔的晚餐似真還是. . .

凱旋門前的自拍似真還是. . .

自由神像噢或者Keith Richards似真還是. . .

艾菲爾鐵塔的戀人. . .



以上錄像(節錄篇來自「文化碰撞 穿越東北亞」展覽
香港藝術中心包氏畫廊, 20151210日至2016117




還未過癮再試試上方的” 城市按摩美麗的髒泡泡” .