Wong Ka Ying: Plastic Love

EVENT DESCRIPTION

For her first solo exhibition at Square Street Gallery, Hong Kong artist Wong Ka Ying (b. 1990) explores the layered relationship between people and their possessions, from kitschy plastic toys won after countless hours at the claw machine to million-dollar luxury pets bred to perfection after numerous experiments. Testaments of victory and status symbols, these cute, shiny, and fluffy objects and animals share a melancholic entanglement in Wong’s work; the way in which they accessorize and embellish our lives point toward an emptiness—a void often caused by grief, isolation, or nihilism—that we attempt to fill. The delightful exteriors of these coveted properties often distract us from further examination of darker truths: addiction, obsession, waste, and illness. Wong’s presentation, which includes paintings, drawings, and sculptures, accentuates the “plastic” qualities of these objects both materially and conceptually as synthetic, false, and superficial.