“Home and Away cont.” is an exhibition focusing on the pervasively uncanny changes that have occurred in the past years. At its core, it is a reflection of the artist’s mentality towards these unpredictably shifting times. Yet in retrospect, Chak's paintings and drawings are not aimed at conveying a particular message. Rather it can be considered as an open-ended search-- an introspection for who we are. Through the process of rationalization, the artist and the audience are being transformed; while we try to decipher the meaning behind the visuals, we have been reconstituted by becoming a part of the recreation, or the outcome of the contextual internalization.
Such a conclusion has come to fruition in Chak’s paintings. In depicting the coastlines and islands of Hong Kong, the artist has transfigured them into a bunch of no man’s land. There are only trees, hills, rivers and skies. The lonesome island has reverted back hundreds of years to a time when inhabitants did not exist. The physical realm has been reduced to pure aesthetics and pictorial elements (forms, lines, composition and color). Without the secular, issues of subject vs. object, governor vs. governed, and the turmoil of Hong Kong’s colonial history are all wiped clean. What is left are the cold breeze and the brightly lit moon, leaving civilians’ to wonder the utmost triviality of their everyday concerns.
Opening Reception: 2023.06.10(Sat), 2pm - 6pm
Gallery address: 2/f, East 17, No. 17 Main Street East, Shau Kei Wan