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A series of works depicting sweet love will be on display tomorrow (October 14) until October 29 at the exhibition, "When Words are Sweet...Paintings by Au Hoi-lam", in the Hong Kong Central Library.
It is the ninth exhibition of the "Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme III" organised by the Art Promotion Office. To artist Au Hoi-lam, the exercise book is the perfect medium for recording the details of her life. Creative ideas for new paintings, scraps of picture, memorandum, or expressions of feelings on a wide variety of subjects were recorded in her exercise books, as a diary and an album of her private life. The exhibition gives a full display of Au’s concept of "painting - memorandum".
Inspired by the "Poem of You and I" written by Guan Daosheng, the wife of Zhao Mengfu, Au created a series of works about love. Various figures, both human and otherwise, reveal insipid, scrappy moments of affection in her life. Paintings of items in pairs, including toothbrushes, slippers and cell phones, as well as tokens of love such as handkerchiefs with printed patterns, caring words and lovers' promises reflect the artist's recollections and aspirations about love.
Through painting, Au reflects her life, pursues her inner aspirations, recollects beautiful things, and clings to precious moments in her memory. To the painter’s mixed state of mind, happiness and pain come together easily. Indeed, she tries to feel her existence through a thin veil of pain, the experience of which serves a therapeutic purpose.
The seven-year art training at Jockey Club Ti-I College has given Au a strong foundation for her pursuit of painting. Afterwards, having been trained in the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, she further continued her studies in art and painting. While many of her peers devoted themselves to a concept-led and experiment-oriented creative approach, Au was undoubtedly one of the few who fully committed to painting in all forms.
Au's works do not adhere to any fixed mode of expression, whether concrete or abstract. Instead, she ceaselessly explores different skills, colours and themes of painting. Her works consist of abstract works of pencil shavings, works which use colours and texture and works of geometrical colourful blocks and scrappy words. Au created a dreamy and delicate series of works entitled "Memo" from 2003 to 2004 by using large colour blocks.
It seems that there is no rational reasoning or clear line of thought from Au's paintings, but incomprehensibility is exactly what she has sought to achieve: painting is her own confession.
The Hong Kong Central Library is located at 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay. It opens from 10am to 8pm daily.
For details of the exhibition, visit the website at http://www.artistneighbourhood.info/. For enquiries, call 3101 2712 or 3101 2713.
Ends/Friday, October 13, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:00
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