Wilson Shieh and Tse Yim On: Trendi Club

EVENT DESCRIPTION

From 3 to 25 August, Bonhams presents Trendi Club, a selling exhibition of the latest painting series by two notable Hong Kong artists – Wilson Shieh and Tse Yim On. The exhibition showcases more than 20 works of acrylic and oil on canvas – including three collaborative paintings – via which the duo reimagine some of the greatest pop icons and symbols of their generations, using personal experience to reinterpret their cultural meaning. Spanning from Stephen Chow, Danny Chan to Boy George, Brazilian football player Pelé and BLACKPINK, this “club” of trendsetters bear witness not only to the evolution of pop culture from the 1980s up until now, but also to how that world is intertwined in dialogue with the artists’ own lives. Trendi Club is a free exhibition open to the public from Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm; Saturday (5 Aug and 19 Aug only), 2 – 6pm.

Same-year graduates of Master of Fine Art at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shieh and Tse are both dedicated to exploring the possibilities of integrating pop elements into traditional medium. Despite their different approaches and styles, the duo finds their voices in complement to each other. This is exemplified in the three collaborative paintings of the show, where they take it in turn to complete each other’s works on a given subject, be it the nostalgic amusement park Lai Yuen in The Dinosaur of Dusk, Bruce Lee in The Boss Cat, or Japanese idols in Claw Vacation.

Shieh is best known for his Gongbi ink techniques with delicate brush strokes and tightly- knitted compositions, best illustrated in his signature Architecture series. For this show however, the artist finds breakthrough from the Chinese traditional medium of ink on paper to instead embrace the acrylic and the oil. New images of pop singers, actors, sportsmen, artists, fictional characters, or even personified antiques, are formed as he lets his Chinese brush flow freely on the western medium, epitomising the “east-meets-west” character of Hong Kong popular culture.

Tse Yim On brings to the show the latest creations for his Personalities of Recent Times series. Mixing a palette of elements borrowed from Hong Kong comics and Japanese manga, the series features such celebrities, comicists, and artists who not only are admired here and afar, but also hold personal significance to his own upbringing. Upon closer inspection, viewers will find themselves dwelling in layers of cultural signals that give away the artist’s hints for extended interpretations.