EvergreenOdds and Ends Gallery
Hong Kong – Odds and Ends is pleased to present Evergreen, a group exhibition showcasing new works by four Hong Kong female artists; Blair Lam Hiu Suet, Chong Hiu Wing, Heidi Ling Wai Shan, and Ivy Ho Man Kei. The exhibition marks the re-opening of the gallery in its new location, and will be on view from 18th March to 13th April 2024, with an opening reception on Monday 18th March from 5-8pm.
Evergreen brings together four recent graduates of Hong Kong Baptist University whose practices alchemise natural elements into painting forms. Their paintings while varying in styles and techniques, all attempt to capture the ephemerality of human emotions through conceptualisation and abstraction of nature. Each artist cultivates a sensibility to the inherent qualities of nature, examining the constant flux in relationships between nature and the sociological contexts they exist in.
Heidi Ling Wai Shan’s practice is preoccupied with the conceptual dissection of societal nature relations, depicting highly symbolic objects and figures in surrealistic manner. Her paintings Outer 在外 , 2024 and Within在內 , 2024 explore the philosophical and social perception of autonomy through the metaphorical relationship between a fish and a fish tank, asserting that the view we hold of the natural world profoundly shapes the image we develop of the social worlds. Ling’s practice explores anew the way contemporary art conceptualises nature from the multiplicity, duality and cultural diversity of metaphors.
Chong Hiu Wing’s interest in nature lies in its transient and emotive qualities. Her recent paintings such as Tender Whispers 冰冷的溫柔, 2024 draw inspirations from her Winter travels, reducing vast snow-filled landscapes into soft fields of pastel. The minimalization of landscape in Chong’s paintings serves to highlight the emotional construction of nature, amplifying its sublime quality and its capacity for emotional evocation. The process of which culminates in highly romantic interpretations of landscapes that serve as the conduit between the tangible and the abstract, the familiar and the enigmatic.
Encapsulating the essence of organic abstraction, Blair Lam Hiu Suet’s recent paintings derive inspiration from the fluid and organic structures of nature. Her highly abstract paintings adopt microscopic modes of visual representation and reconfigures mimetic convention of the natural environment. Emphasising the materiality of paint, her recent works such as Cyclops, 2024 exemplify the metabolic process of transforming observed environments into an aesthetic experience through the abstraction of organic forms. Adopting a medium-froward painting practice, Lam’s exploration of abstract forms of nature result in a body of works that are highly rhythmic and electric.
Exploring our childlike fascination with astronomy, Ivy Ho Man Kei’s new works merge the observed and imagined wonders of outer space. One of Ho’s major artistic interests lies in creating extraordinary experience from the ordinary, much of which is achieved through keen observations of mundane everyday activities. Bringing attention to the meditative qualities of star gazing, Ho’s new works such as The Fleeting Star 一瞬即逝的星星, 2023 are presented with the naïve sentimentality of children’s illustration, conveying a common sense of fantastical optimism that is collectively shared by children and adults alike