Wong Sze Wai: Stone Stealer

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Contemporary by Angela Li is proud to present Stone Stealer, solo exhibition of Hong Kong artist Wong Sze Wai. Wong proposes an investigation of the relationship between memory and consciousness, extending beyond the canvas to an intertwined space of the imaginary and the forgotten. Inspired by the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s literature La Poétique de l’Espace, Wong guides the audience into a mysterious yet poetical habitat of our inner self.

Corners within a home and abandoned huts in Wong’s paintings are refuges for viewers to return for the exploration of their own inner self. Resonating with Bachelard’s theory that sensory stimulation often invokes people’s fantasies on their surroundings, Wong uses her canvases as the medium for viewers to tap into their dormant consciousness where memories and imagination intertwine. Inspired by ancient mural art and Western painting masters, Wong uses mineral pigments, clay and other materials, adding onto the canvases layer by layer. The textures spawned from the dried clay magnify the paintings’ relationships to space and time, and lead the viewers to a further dimension.

To Wong, the stone statues and sculptures, being protagonists of the exhibition, act as witnesses to our history. These items symbolise the stories and transformations of a civilization, carrying the memories of a city. Through the sculptures and statues, we unlock the doorway connecting to our distant memories and travel to another realm. The fences and window frames also become passageways, allowing the viewers to explore the external world that leads onto vast imaginary spaces.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Wong Sze Wai (b.1990) was born and raised in Hong Kong. She graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2013 and Master of Fine Arts in 2020. She went to Shangri-la to further her studies in 2016 and participated in an artist residency in Bulgaria in 2018. She is currently teaching at the Fine Art Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She participated in exhibitions in Hong Kong, Italy, Amsterdam and Bulgaria, including: “The Missing Operator” (Art Central Solo Project, Contemporary by Angela Li, 2022), “Celebrating 40 Years, Friends of Art Museum, CUHK” (Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery, Hong Kong, 2021), “Future of the Past” (Contemporary by Angela Li, Hong Kong, 2021), “Invisible Border of Memories” (Art Projects Gallery, Hong Kong, 2021), “Shining Moment” (TANG Art Foundation, Hong Kong, 2021), “HKFOREWORD20” (10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong, 2020), “Make _ art Not War [T/F]” (Osage, Hong Kong, 2020), “Line In Motions – East meets West” (CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam, 2018), “Word of Co. Open Studio Day” (Място 167, Bulgaria), “Elements - From Space to Space “(Palazzo Ca’Zanardi, Italy, 2017), Amsterdam Art Exhibition of CUHK AAFAA 2015 (Dokzaal, Amsterdam, 2015).