Angel Hui’s Aquarium

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Wyndham Social welcomes ????? ???’? ????????, a solo exhibition by Hong Kong artist Angel Hui Hoi-Kiu. Marking Hui’s first solo exhibition in 2022, this new body of work is a continuation of the “Embroidery on Plastic Bags: Hong Kong Goldfish Street” set shown at Art Basel Hong Kong earlier this year. Best known for her constant reinvestigation of objets trouvés, Hui’s recent series of work continues to question the definitions and social roles of commonly found items.

Deeply rooted in traditional Chinese craftsmanship, Hui’s work constantly seeks breakthrough and reinvention in classic techniques. Goldfish, a popular symbol of fortune and prosperity in traditional Chinese embroidery, is also the subject of trade along the Goldfish Market (Tung Choi Street) in Hong Kong. Renowned for its eye-catching, aquarium-esque spectacle of assorted aquatic pets and waterscape supplies, the street market houses arrays of racks with a wide variety of goldfish in plastic bags hung from hooks in search of a new owner. Inspired by the bizarre yet compelling display, Hui began to challenge the common usage of plastic bags while experimenting with the boundaries of traditional hand embroidery.

Engaging a group of professional embroiderers from Suzhou, China, Hui invited them to hand embroider a delicate goldfish onto each transparent plastic bag. Reluctant at first, the embroiderers were later convinced to take on this innovative challenge with Hui’s collaborative efforts. With the embroiderers’ painstaking attention to detail and devotion, the demanding techniques of embroidering on plastic bags soon became sophisticated after countless experiments and failures.

From painting porcelain art on facial tissues to reimagining plastic bags with hand embroidery, Hui keeps on pursuing a dialogue bridging traditional craftsmanship and contemporary concepts in art, in the meantime challenging viewers to cast aside the fixed perception of daily objects. Deliberately designing an aquarium enclosed by a bustling Central wine-and-dine district with site-specific lighting design, Hui also juxtaposes the mundane daily hustle with an artificial nature, embracing viewers in a kaleidoscopic display while provoking them to rethink the role of spectatorship.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Angel Hui Hoi-Kiu (b.1990) is a Hong Kong artist known for her ink work on tissue paper in recent years. She received her BA in Visual Arts from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2014 and MA in Experimental Art with Distinction at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 2017. Fascinated by daily objects, Hui often discovers new meanings in them by twisting traditional art form and appropriating common materials to become part of her artwork. A promising and emerging artist, her works have been exhibited in museums and galleries locally and internationally.