The Floating World: Curated by André Chan
Ben Brown Fine Arts is pleased to announce our forthcoming exhibition, The Floating World, at the Hong Kong gallery. The exhibition, organized by Hong Kong-based curator André Chan, as part of the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association's (HKAGA) Summer Programme, aims at highlighting local artistic talents and fostering the Hong Kong arts community. The exhibition features works by Hong Kong artists Cheng Ting Ting, Vivian Ho, Li Ning, Nicole Wong, and Yan Wai Yin. The artists, hailing from various disciplinary backgrounds, will be exhibiting together for the first time in this group exhibition.
Inspired by Japanese Ukiyo-e artworks, Chan has curated a compelling group show featuring the work of these five artists, each of whom invites viewers to contemplate the fragile and fleeting state of our environment and reality. Chan states: '
Ukiyo-e or the painting of the floating world was a popular form of Japanese drawing that depicts the everyday life of the burgeoning Edo, then a relatively young city. Artists portrayed a wide array of different topics, ranging from the lives of the common people and portraits of beautiful women to the beasts in local mythologies and fantastical tales of hero deeds. The realistic depiction of the subject mixed with a hint of grandeur and extravagant imagination catered to the taste of the city dwellers. The term floating world on one hand signifies the suffering and grief of the sentient world, at the same time connotes the hedonistic world of the new urbanite class. More importantly, the idea of a floating world suggests our world is wobbly, unstable and ambiguous.
Cheng Ting Ting's lithographs depict her sights and experiences while studying in Norway, Vivian Ho's paintings transport viewers into a fantasy that subtly reflects our own reality, Stone Faces by Li Ning uses abstract ceramic pieces to present a series of portraits, Nicole Wong's installation, On How to Say Goodbye, pays homage to our affection for small animals, and Yan Wai Yin's lyrical videos serve as a tribute to her environment and a reflection of her past relationship. In this group exhibition, five artists, working in different mediums, invite viewers to contemplate the fragility of nature and the impermanence of the world we inhabit.'
