Artpartment a Hong Kong space for experimental art – video

ARTIST-RUN SPACES VIDEOS PERFORMANCE ART VIDEO ART STOP MOTION

We bring you another summary of an [art]attack show by ChooChooTV, this one profiling C&G Artpartment, founded by Clara Cheung, who studied art in the United States for four years, and Cheng Yee Man (Gum), an HKAPA and RMIT graduate. Artpartment is a gallery and studio space in Hong Kong dedicated to the production and exhibition of experimental art.

Artists Clara Cheung and Cheng Yee Man (Gum) discuss their Hong Kong studio and gallery C&G Artpartment on ChooChooTV.

We set up Artpartment for two reasons. Firstly we wanted a place to exhibit artworks, like an art gallery or a space for experimental art, and secondly we wanted to create a studio to teach painting. Clara Cheung on [art]attack

The artists own collaboration lies in performance art pieces, mostly conducted on the streets of Hong Kong. Says Gum,

“I totally disagree that an exhibition doesn’t require an audience;… for any exhibition, the more audience you have the better it is. We want to do things that attract people and performing art can provide that. You are forced to view it since we are on location in front of you.”

The video focuses on art created by the pair for the stop motion art group exhibition, “No Money for Art vs. No Time for Art”, held at Artpartment. They use video, drawing and painting to create videos expressing the social aspirations behind their work.

“We went to Poland in September for an art camp, it’s similar to an artist residency programme, and there were a lot of artists from different countries. Our work that we are exhibiting was inspired during that programme.” Clara Cheung on [art]attack

Both artists have strong views about the job of an artist and these are expressed in the video.

“The direction of our artwork is firstly, about our society and secondly, about the art society…. Art should create awareness, it should also be something we’ve not seen before, so the way we should approach art is to use it to reflect the society and political issues.” Cheng Yee Man (Gum) on [art]attack

“Different art media should all be part of the art scene. We need to unite and strengthen the art scene.” Clara Cheung on [art]attack

Watch the video here (length 6:39 minutes)

KN/HH

Related Topics: videos, video art, performance art, Hong Kong artists, artist-run spaces

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Anti “commercial” art, Luk Tsing Yuen comments on corporate greed: video

INTERNET TV 3D ART VIDEO

Art Radar Asia brings you yet another insightful video from Internet channel ChooChooTV’s show [art]attack. This four minute production allows Hong Kong-based social artist Luk Tsing Yuen to explain his art output and offers viewers a chance to share space in his studio.

Luk Tsing Yuen

A fairly young artist, Luk Tsing Yuen received his BA in 2005  and is currently a student of Art and Design in Education at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Tsing Yuen takes the viewer on a tour of some of his recent works explaining each with a background of his inspirations and concerns. Working with 3D objects, Tsing Yuen uses a certain plastic type known as polyurethane. Fashioning plastic into detailed objects in response to social issues like the preservation of the environment and the commercialised culture crisis, Tsing Yuen’s works combine a passionate feeling for social needs and aesthetic imagination.

In a work called Art becoming merchandise, Tsing Yuen shows us what looks like a display box within which rows of decorative objects are stuck to the wall. Referring to the theme of assembly line production of culture and art, he places each “art” object as a product like any other – mass produced. He  goes on to say,

I want to express the fact that businessmen are destroying our history and artwork.

Another artwork features multiple slabs of transparent plastic within which one sees fossilized butterflies that have retained their colorfulness. Tsing Yuen says that the inspiration for this work was derived from a recent construction site at the Fung Yuen butterfly reserve where in the name of a better environment, the dust and grime from the construction was killing a great number of protected butterflies.

Luk Tsing Yuen has participated in several local solo and group exhibitions including “Fotanian” (2003), “A Person A [ ]” (2004), “Local East-Kowloon Art In Progress” (2006), “Industry and Silence” (2007), and “Passionate Objects” (2008) and is currently based in Hong Kong.

Watch the video on the ChooChooTV show [art]attack (length of video, 4:03 minutes).

AM/KN

Related Topics: Hong Kong artists , biological art, consumerism

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• Ex-Tate Modern director Lars Nittve to join West Kowloon M+ – July 2010 – an exploration of Nittve’s recent appointment to the West Kowloon team
• Your interpretation or mine? Hong Kong artist Chow Chun Fai reflects in video interview – July 2010 – also from ChooChoo TV’s ArtAttack, watch the artist share the paradox of meaning of art
• Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa speaks on new internet TV platform Studio Banana – May 2010 – a rare glimpse into the works of Nawa where the artist reveals the Internet as a source of great inspiration

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Your interpretation or mine? Hong Kong artist Chow Chun Fai reflects in video interview

HONG KONG FOTANIAN ARTIST VIDEO INTERVIEW

In the four-minute video, Chow Chun Fai [art]attack 6, Hong Kong-born artist Chow Chun Fai shares his views on the ever-evolving interpretation of art and his own role as an artist.

A graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong‘s Department of Fine Arts, Chow is currently an active member of the Fotan art community, working primarily in Hong Kong and Beijing.

His works have been exhibited in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Manchester, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Palermo, and Verona.

In his “Painting on Movie” series, Chow appropriates stills from popular cinema. Through the remaking process, the artist explores the differences between his own understanding and the audience’s interpretation.

…everyone has his or her own interpretation of things. Sometimes even the artist’s interpretation of his or her own artwork can change over time.

Chow Chun Fai, 'Infernal Affairs, “I want my identity back”', 2007, enamel paint on canvas.

While everyone’s interpretations may not be exactly the same, Chow believes the messages of culture and identity can easily transcend borders. On his first movie painting depicting a scene from the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he remarks:

There are many scenes in this movie that cannot be translated, but you would still understand the movie regardless of your cultural background.

Despite being a well-established artist and winning multiple awards such as the Hong Kong Arts Centre 30th Anniversary Award Grand Prize and the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Chow says being a Hong Kong artist remains a considerable challenge:

…your work needs to involve more than just creativity. You might also need to be your own agent and writer, etc.

The road of creativity can make for a bumpy ride, but Chow maintains a firm belief in himself:

Sometimes you can love what you do. Sometimes you get confused… I believe in everything I do.

Watch the video on the ChooChooTV show [art]attack (length of video, 4:09 mins).

VL/KN

Related Topics: Hong Kong artists, Fotanian artists, videos

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Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more on Hong Kong’s Fotanian artists

Kwan Sheung Chi reveals how to survive as an artist in Hong Kong in telling video

HONG KONG FOTANIAN ARTIST VIDEO INTERVIEW

“Kwan Sheung Chi [art]attack 29” (length of video, 5:12 mins), features the Hong Kong artist Kwan Sheung Chi (b. 1980). In the video, Kwan describes the issues he explored in two of his exhibitions, as well as providing insight into his lifestyle. He emphasizes that creating art forms only a part of his activities. The video shows Kwan as he is interviewed in his studio in Fotan, Hong Kong, alongside examples of his work.

Kwan Sheung Chi's 'in situ', part of the exhibition "No Matter, Try Again, Fail Again" held at gallery EXIT (Hong Kong) in 2009.

Kwan Sheung Chi graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003, with a Third Honor Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. He has been recognized in Hong Kong from as early as 2000 when he was named the King of Hong Kong New Artist while still a student. His 2002 exhibition “Kwan Sheung Chi Touring Series Exhibitions, Hong Kong” toured ten major exhibition venues in Hong Kong.

He set up a studio in Fotan, Hong Kong where he creates art when he is not working at his part time job.

My studio looks more like a home. I spend most of my time in the kitchen. Since I’ve moved into this studio, I’ve cooked more than actually creating.

Kwan comments on the importance of trying different mediums for his work. He comes up with an appropriate medium for his work after he has explored many ways of expressing a certain concept or idea.

The medium of creating a piece of art is not my priority; rather it’s what I want to express and what I feel about a certain subject matter, then I will choose a suitable medium for the artwork.

He comments that his first solo exhibition, “A Retrospective of Kwan Sheung Chi”, was meant to be a “reverse” logic, an exploration of what a new artist needs to do to prepare himself for his own “retrospective”.  He says that it is due to this exhibition, held at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, that he is now so well-known in Hong Kong.

My intention of the retrospective is to ’reverse’ the logic of a new artist preparing for a retrospective. The artwork in the exhibition mainly reflects my ideas on how to survive as an artist in Hong Kong.

Kwan also discusses his 2009 exhibition “No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again.”, which consisted of about ten videos, small sculptures, and installations, and in which he explored the idea of failure. He explains that we encounter failure in many aspects of life, and it is impossible to avoid the negative feelings it causes.

One of the videos is about suicide, it’s called ‘Plan A To Z To End My Life’. I tried to think of 26 ways from A-Z to commit suicide.

Watch the video on the ChooChooTV show [art]attack (length of video, 5:12 mins).

MM/KN

Related Topics: Hong Kong artists, videos, profiles

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Is text writing or image? Bloomberg prize-winner Phoebe Hui examines – video interview

HONG KONG ARTISTS VIDEO ARTIST INTERVIEW

In a short five minute interview on ChooChooTV’s weekly show [art]attack, emerging Hong Kong artist Phoebe Hui gives viewers a peek at her creative process.

In the interview, Hui expresses a strong interest in the transformation of text from one medium to another.  To her, such transformations serve as a way of linking text to other concepts.

Artist Phoebe Hui at work in her studio.

“The way I view text is not just a form of communication but also as an image.”

By removing the meaning of written words, Hui transforms them into more than just a method of verbal expression. In an early piece titled Doublets Doublets Doublets, Hui bases her process on a game by author Lewis Carroll.

“I will remove one alphabet letter in a word…and gradually change other letters too. These are still text that we are familiar with but once we change it our focus is no longer on the meaning of the text but simply on the relation of the symbols.”

After graduating from the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong, the artist travelled to England where she studied for a masters degree at the University of the Arts London. Following graduation she decided to move back to Hong Kong.

Although Hui has achieved considerable success as a young artist, it has not come without disappointments. On her move to London from Hong Kong Hui states:

“For me, my path from attaining the scholarship from HKADC [Hong Kong Arts and Development Council], I thought I would have a very successful year in London, but it was not as good as I thought it would be.”

In spite of this setback, Hui went on to win the Bloomberg Emerging Artist award in 2008 after her return to Hong Kong, an accomplishment she is “very satifisfied with.”

While she expresses concern about support for artists’ programs from both organisations and Hong Kong audiences, she remains positive and driven.

“It seems like a very successful road, but I’m still not where I want to be.”

Watch the video here (length of video, 5:22 mins).

EH/KN

Related Topics: Hong Kong artists, emerging artists, installation art, conceptual art

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{Inter}Viewing Possession with Leung Chi Wo, Hong Kong artist at Asia Art Archive – interview

HONG KONG ARTIST INTERVIEW

A viewing station of Leung Chi Wo's video work exhibition at the Asia Art Archive, entitled {Inter}Viewing Possession

The remarkable Hong Kong artist Leung Chi Wo explores the idea of possession and value in his fascinating installation exhibiton entitled {Inter}Viewing Possession, curated by Carl Cheng Chi-Ming and Livia Garcia.

Leung Chi Wo is a highly active artist in the Hong Kong community,  a co-founder of the internationally significant Para-Site Art Space, who graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with an MFA in 1997.

He represented Hong Kong in the Venice Biennale in 2001, and has worked in the arts abroad in both New York and Italy.

Despite this, he says, “When I was young I never thought about becoming an artist, and even after studying art, I didn’t think I would become one.” He describes his art as a “contradiction of ideas,” and that he “likes to explore things that are not meant to be.”

Watch a video interview of Leung Chi Wo here on ChoochooTV Media Entertainment, which posts arts related video programs on [art]attack, Hong Kong web television.

His installation exhibit at the Asia Art Archive is comprised of 8 viewing stations, each similar in outward appearance to a telescope.

Regarding his process and intentions for {Inter}Viewing Possession, he says:

I want to express the idea of viewing, and possession is an association to the location we are at. We are situated on Possession Street, and close to here is Possession Point where the first Colonials arrived. Possession is also something we can all associate with. We interviewed people around this area regarding their possessions, objects that they treasure. During the interview, you are actually exercising your thinking about what you learn from the interview. I transcribed the interviews into a monologue. Then I interviewed the interviewers about their point of view when conducting the interviews, turning it into the second set of monologues, and combined it into the audio for this set of works. During the process, I want to explore what ‘value’ is and how to describe it. In my artwork, I want to put more thought into the context, when the artwork is exhibited, it should be very closely related to the environment. I hope the presentation of the installation can work with the situation it is in. The environment should also involve the audience, what you are showing the audience. What I meant by the environment doesn’t necessarily mean physical space, we must also consider the historical or cultural space and also the habitation of the people in that area.

The video works from this exhibition are also available for viewing on Youtube, and can be accessed through the links below.

{Inter}Viewing Possession- Video Channel 1 (Cantonese)

{Inter}Viewing Possession- Video Channel 2 (English)

{Inter}Viewing Possession- Video Channel 3 (English)

{Inter}Viewing Possession- Video Channel 4 (Cantonese)

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