The Unstoppable Carousel 旋轉的突破, Ink, colour, pastel and crayon on paper, 145 (H) x 282 (W) cm.
Solo Exhibition: The Park of Luminous Ridicule 2016
Venue: Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
Exhibition Period: 17 March - 9 April 2016
If Luis Chan was the Chinese counterpart of Toulouse-Lautrec, in that both strived for the bohemian visions, then Wong Yeeki was certainly the artistic parallel of Cirque du Soleil. Wong's latest collection was not only the most ambitious and technically sound; they used a theatrical and character-driven approach that defined the Cirque. In fact, audience could easily link the puppet babies to expressionless acrobats or the delicate line drawn bombers to linear cages of motorized actions. On the level of colors and hues, Wong's paintings created stages of gleeful chaos. In addition to pure lines, the artist used a multitude of mediums to create layered compositions loaded with details. We could see traditional Chinese landscape juxtaposed with geometric color shapes and fine gongbi lines with heavy pastel mixtures. Yet the most interesting part of the Park of Luminous Ridicule was the darker underpinnings that all works collectively shared. Wong stressed that her inspiration came from chaos, wars and games. According to her, it was our "epistemic failure" to the understanding of the order of this world that led to such a mess. Her newest paintings were all war games perhaps, each with characters mocking and "bombing" each other. Though as we decoded the apparent chaos, we were left with not only ridicules but revelation and social awareness. Luis Chan would have never thought the 21st century bohemian life could be so much fun!
Henry Au-yeung
February 2016
Hong Kong artist Luis Chan was arguably the most celebrated painter in the fantastic realism genre. He painted people from the street, restaurants or clubs; mostly in a semi-realistic manner yet some contorted or unrecognizable. With predominately primary colors and surrealistic composition, he adopted an unorthodox approach with no traditional lineage attached. Like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the Post-impressionist master of the 19th century, Chan wanted to present his surroundings - the bohemian lifestyle once defined the artistic class.
Wong Yeeki is the latest proponent in this colorful genre. Her 2011 exhibition Escape gave the first glimpse of her whimsical interpretation of reality. Centered heavily on narratives, it was the artist's character display revealing her charm as a young artist. Traces of the Floating World in 2014 featured her discoveries from research from the MFA thesis on the Chinese brush lines, bai-miao. Academic and methodical, the works were clearly mature demonstrations of an enlightened mind. The Song of Songs series, particularly, gave the audience simple yet complex composition derived solely from lines.
