Aries Wu: 5pm

EVENT DESCRIPTION

a|n Gallery is pleased to present “5pm: Solo Exhibition by Aries Wu”. From 3 March until 18 March, 2022, this thoughtful exhibition features a collection of 12 new works by one of Hong Kong’s most promising young oil painters.

Aries Wu Chun Yin began his career in Hong Kong after obtaining a degree in fine arts from RMIT in Melbourne in 2007. Influenced by the works of Dutch master Johannes Vermeer and Spanish realism, Aries has demonstrated an outstanding ability to bring realism and vitality to the traditional themes of still-life paintings, creating perceptive depictions of flowers and furniture. During his creative process, Aries spends hours observing the object and its interaction with space and light; in doing so, he captures the object in a fleeting moment of life. However, Aries’s interest lies not in capturing the exterior of the object. He instead aims to record both his subjective feelings and his dialogue with the environment during the process.

In his latest collection “5pm”, Aries Wu explores in great depths the theme of flowers, which has been his favourite theme in recent years. Rather than showing flowers in nature, Aries has focused on depicting flowers that are placed in vases to thoughtfully examine their role as decorative pieces in an indoor environment. “I am fascinated by the vitality of flowers,” Aries commented. “Once a flower has been cut and removed from nature, its life has, in a way, been terminated. However, it will continue its natural life cycle regardless. To me, the strong vitality of a flower is extremely interesting and gives me a lot of inspiration.”

Executed with meticulous detail and special attention to the treatment of petal layers, Aries has deliberately chosen to show different types of flowers—such as roses, lilies, tulips and hydrangea—in different stages of the life cycle. Some flowers are shown in full bloom, while others have begun to wither. In almost all of the works, the flowers are placed beside a window through which gentle sunlight is shining. With this composition, Aries manages to create a special dialogue between the flowers and nature. In “Sunlight at 5pm”, Aries shows the tulips just moments before they would start to wither: “Although they are at the final phase of their life cycle, the tulips are blossoming more vibrantly than before. And 5 o’clock in the afternoon is the time when we can see the final rays of sunlight. It is a very emotional and poetic moment, and gives me an opportunity to not only appreciate the beauty of nature, but to also ponder over the meaning of life.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Aries Wu grew up in Hong Kong. After obtaining his degree from RMIT, he studied under Spanish realism masters López Garcia and Golucho. He is the recipient of the 2017 Art Next International Artist Gold Award. During the past few years, Aries has participated in a number of solo and group shows, both in Hong Kong and overseas. He was the only Hong Kong artist invited by MEAM Museum in Barcelona to join the exhibition “Beyond Language – Contemporary Chinese Realism”. His works have been collected by private collectors in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas, as well as institutions including Sun Museum and Suzhou Museum. He currently lives and works in Taiwan.