4 by hongkongartschool

APRIL CHALLIS EMMA LAU EVAN WU POLLY SNAITH

4MFA-12

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to acknowledge and thank the following people: Associate Professor Kevin White, Deputy Head International Development, School of Art, RMIT University. Rhett D'Costa, Academic Advisor, MFA Hong Kong, School of Art, RMIT University. Terry Batt, Associate Professor BAFA and MFA Coordinator for the Hong Kong Art School.

David Boyce, Artist. Thanks to the team at HKAS for their marketing and technical advice and Kiki and Kay for all their administrative support during the MFA. Thanks to all our peers for their encouragement, guidance, feedback, humour and support.

APRIL CHALL1S EMMA LAU EVAN WU POLLY SNAITH

4 - MFA -12

INTRODUCTION

It has been immensely satisfying to witness the artistic development of each of the graduates represented in this catalogue and the commitment and enthusiasm with which they have tackled

the challenges posed by post-graduate study within the Master of Fine Art program. Equally rewarding, is the tangible evidence this catalogue provides of the ongoing development of the collaborative educational partnership between the Hong Kong Art School and the School of Art, RMIT University.

It has been a great pleasure and privilege to work with this group of students in both the personal intimacy of their own studios and collectively as a group. Their work has undergone a significant transformation during the 2 years of the program as they have strived to push the limits of their artistic vision. This catalogue is an eloquent testament to their spirit of exploration and quest to develop and refine, uniquely personal interpretations of both seen and imagined worlds. It is with feelings of pride and pleasure that I congratulate them all on their achievements and wish them a successful and exciting future.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR KEVIN WHITE Deputy Head -International Development, School of Art, RMIT University

REFLECTING FORWARD

Writing is a lot like making a new work of art. I've probably made five attempts at starting this bit of writing. It's a bit cliched, but kind of true, the whole facing the "blank canvas" idea. In my case I have a lot of trouble starting (and sometimes finishing) things, probably because I am concerned about whether it is worth it or going to be any good. This is true of most creative people: we have difficulty in making a decision on when to start, and most importantly, when to stop. We are all aware of the trap of overworking something. Some people say I think too much about things

and should just "do it". These decisions trouble me on a regular, if not a daily, basis, and I am sure that the artists in this catalogue have all faced something similar: those periods of troublesome disquiet, self-doubt and indecision. Making art is a combination of joy and pain. Good artists channel these feelings and make interesting, challenging, and, ultimately, engaging work from experiences that range from despair

to euphoria.

While all four artists here say they haven't consciously strived to have a common theme running through their works, I can see something that does, in a small way, tie the works together. For me, it was interesting to see that their work developed from their personal experiences and concerns; illness, family relationships, meditative practice and reactions to the inherent wastefulness of modern society. It is these personal concerns that give their work strength. The architect Walter Gropius said: "Architecture begins where engineering ends. The 'architecture' in these works is where the technique becomes secondary to the ideas or conceptual conceits that form the back bone of the projects." Evan Wu has used her background in graphic design to consider the wasteful practices that surround industry. She has turned casts offs and rubbish into aesthetically charming and ultimately intriguing works.

April Challis, who took an experience of a serious illness and then worked it for all it was worth into her treatment, recovery process and beyond. Polly Snaith engaged with her experience of family rediscovery and the nurturing and "feeding" of relationships to make something that was both deeply personal but also universal.

Emma Lau's work looks at the intersection of western and eastern consciousness with the international ideal of meditation and the attempt to clear the mind and achieve a state of pure contemplation and freedom. An aspect of the works that I found interesting in this time of growing globalisation was the distinct regional flavour in each of the works. When visiting international shows these days it can sometimes be hard to tell who made the work and where. With these artists, their cultural influences and background were clearly evident in their work -a very pleasant change from the homogenisation of most of today's "international art". A good example of this was in April's work, which subtly reflected the artist's New Zealand heritage and the influence of prominent New Zealand artist Don Driver, who died recently. Finally, the one bit of advice I wished I had come across early in my career is the following by the multi-talented Jean Cocteau, which I gladly pass on: "Listen carefully to first criticisms made of

your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping."

DAVID BOYCE David Boyce is a practicing artist, living and working in Hong Kong.

TABLE OF CONTENTS APRIL CHALLIS

EMMA LAU

EVAN WU

POLLY SNAITH

CONTACT DETAILS

THE WOUNDED BODY: TOUCH

APRIL CHALLIS

The focus of this project is to explore visually, using painting, drawing and construction, the impact illness had on me. My aim was to create a body of work that investigated the chaotic and tumultuous nature of the experience. In 2009 I experienced an extreme illness, Typhus; the red spotted fever, and was struck by the fragility of existence. My life routines, in fact life itself, became tenuous. I was controlled by the illness: it imposed its own routine on me. A routine based around fever, delirium and hydration. My aim was to explore the idea that extreme physical and psychological

experiences can influence the way process and materials are used in the

production of art work and how this experience can shape the symbolism and ideas within it. How the experience and the memory of it consciously or subconsciously can impact on the outcome. The original experience may subside over time but the way in which perception has been altered remains. An interest in this shift and finding the means to explore it has made this investigation personal.

I employed gestural mark-making, some made "unseen" in order to simulate the physical nature of the experience. I investigated how motifs such as the suture, the cannula, the spotted skin and the.medical records could be part of the work. I sought to combine disparate ways of working that would mirror the polar and mental sensations of the illness. I wanted to create work that referenced turmoil,

lack of control, dread and discomfort. The materiality of the work was important. The way materials are used with the idea that the substances themselves could have their own say, their own integrity. Two artists, Eva Hesse and Joseph Beuys were important for the role materials played in their work. Eva Hesse commented "I've been in a place where I've seen my work, there were hands on it"1 and "I've thought about that (the more thought the greater the Art) and I do have to admit there's a lot that I just let happen and maybe it will come out the better for it." 2 In this project the title became the guide, the path the work took. It started with the wound and moved to the question how can restoration take place? Touch? 1 2

Nixon, Mignon 2002, Eva Hesse, October Files interview with Cindy Nemser, P.I2 Nixon, Mignon 2002, Eva Hesse, October Files interview with Cindy Nemser, p.14

DETAILS FROM THE WOUNDED

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THE WOUNDED BODY acrylic and stitching on canvas and hessian 300 x 280 cm

T : FIFTEEN acrylic, graphite, pastel, ink and collage on Somerset paper 75 x 56 cm

T SERIES Final configuration

H : TWO acrylic, graphite, ink and pastel on handmade paper 54 x 39 cm

H: SIX acrylic, graphite, ink and pastel on handmade paper 54 x 39 cm

A QUIET MIND

EMMA LAU

Emma Lau is a British Chinese artist born in London, England, 1979, and relocated to Hong Kong in 2006. Like many others, she has always searched for greater meaning, and through a fateful series of events and coincidences, she was invited to join a peace initiative where she was taught how to meditate in the Dhammakaya tradition during intensive retreats abroad. Under the guidance of Buddhist teaching monks, and alongside participants from 29 other countries, she meditated for around four to six hours per day. Through this experience her life and mode of thinking began to shift and change in significant ways. Lau's art is an investigation in to the spaces and experiences revealed within the meditative mind, the duality found within thought processes, and the gap between them as a state of liminality. Lau's work is explored primarily through drawing and painting practices within abstraction. She works by applying the state of no-mind 1 achieved in meditation practice to the process of image making. Lau's work also explores the application of concepts within meditation and eastern philosophy to the image making process, such as observing, being aware, intuitive thought, and being without attachment or expectation. It is in this manner that she creates her work. Intuition arising from the meditative mind and the subconscious is used as a guide to placement, form, and composition as it is balanced with the

rational mind.

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CONCERTINA BOOK (The book of finding) April 2012 Acrylic ink, sumi ink, Indian ink and acrylic on Arches 640 gsm CP paper concertina book 15.1 x 20.0 x 2.3 cm closed 15.1 x 231 cm open Box: Mounting board, cotton, Letraset 7.4 x 34.3 x 24.6 cm

(video tests)

MEDITATION May 2012 Video projection installation, 18:20 loop

INSTALLATION OF VIDEO, JUNE 2012 Meditation, May 2012 Video projection installation, 18:20 loop. Projected screen size approximately 14.7 x 21.5 cm Samsung SP-H03 Pico Projector

REVIVIFICATION Recycle / Regenerate / Renew

WU SIU PING, EVAN

Lifestyle magazines are a carrier of ideas related to the consumer culture. They focus on following "fashions" and "trends" closely, with celebrity interviews, recommendation of fashion products and coverage of quality living as their main

content.

Readers believe that through reading these magazines regularly, they can keep abreast of consumer information, lead a fashionable life, consider themselves smart people and have their social values approved by other people. In this context, lifestyle may be seen as being aspirational. Lifestyle magazines present ideas of the material world. They may be seen as beautiful, short-lived butterflies ‘living’ in a world of vanity. An issue of a magazine becomes obsolete once a new issue comes out.

To treat back issues as waste paper is certainly a waste of resources. I wanted to use this material as the main material to create new art works. I studied the techniques of quilling, rolling, bending, folding and piling, and glued the paper strips to fix their shapes and patterns, to create butterflies in a 3 dimensional format. I made 120 butterflies containing different shapes and patterns. (An average reader might read 10 magazines a month and therefore 120 a year.) A video shows butterflies constantly changing from one shape into another (120 different shapes in total), symbolizing the state of lifestyle magazines: New issues constantly replacing old ones. I photographed the butterflies on a light box as the strong backlighting emphasized the quality of the paper-cut. These photographs are then produced in colour separation with 4 films. Once this is done the images are manually

bound into small eight-page books. Finally, they transform into a series of unique books belonging to me, reborn with pure nature. As butterflies, as books. By using the magazine pages as a media, and using the motif of the butterfly, I hope to find a poetic language to set the viewer "free" to a feeling more

transcendent and spiritual than the original magazine might have. Perhaps it might shift the viewer's perspective from one of a consumer to one who seeks loftier and more meaningful values.

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NEW LIFE August 2011 Paper (Back issue magazines) Chinese painting album leaves Variable dimensions (10 books)

THE CHANGING BUTTERFLIES November 2011 Video projection (5 mins) loop Variable dimensions

LIKE BUTTERFLIES, LIKE BOOKS December 2011 Films, Chinese ink and paper, willow branches Variable dimensions

THE FOOD OF LOVE-MADE WITH LOVE Exploring Relational and Socially Shared Experiences through an Event Based Art Practice

POLLY SNAITH

With a background in drawing, paint and printmaking, I was aware of the compounding effects of habitual way of being, coupled with the rather solitary nature of my practise. The MFA was an opportunity to re-evaluate what lay at the core of my practise and to better understand how I might evolve as an artist. Two main changes occurred. Firstly I decided to shift my viewpoint from "third party" role (observer) to "being in the first person" generating a personal narrative. Secondly, inspired by Fluxus thinking, Duchamp's Non-Art and Readymades, Cage's 4'33" and his use of Chance, Echo's writings on Open Work I had for some time felt the need to step away from the traditional notion of art as a material object (painting or sculpture) and to explore the nature of aesthetics that might exist beyond the art object. Initially, I was unsure of how I would execute this shift and went about soliciting opinion, repeatedly posing the question to all kinds of people I met. "Do you think art has to be an object? Supposing you were blind. How could an artist's intentions move you? Could this be conveyed through some kind of interactive engagement or event?" I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the responses. Research led me through works and writing on participatory, relational (Chicago, Bourriaud, Bishop, Seghal, Ondak) performative and durational art/artists (Abromovic, Prvacki), and has included participating in works by others (Heng) and learning through staging my own artistic intensions through participatory events. I set forth to try to capture the essence of, as well as to find a way to share my experiences with an audience. I chose to focus on the unique experience of my meeting and becoming acquainted with my birth mother, a stranger, with whom I had only recently met after having been given up for adoption at birth.

This exhibit brings together aspects of my journey: "The Telecommunications Log"; "The 5th Jar" and emergent "Food of Love" series including "Being a Stranger at My Table" and writings, proposals and event based projects about the experience of building a relationship with my birth mother that developed against a backdrop of domestic activities, evolving through a process of planning preparing and sharing our meals together; and "Masak-Masak - The Curry Puff Project" and Food of Love - A Pot Luck Dinner, being two participatory projects conducted at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore 5th Tropical Lab (a 10 day artist's bootcamp). Through these works I intend to open up conversations amongst the wider community, the curatorial, institutional and commercial art world about the role of the non-visual/non- material art making practices. Who is the creator?

To whom does it belong? Can it be owned? How can it exist beyond an event? Emerging from this programme, I feel I understand and recognise the motives that drive my practise, but no-longer feel confined to a medium or modus operandi. This brings a tremendous sense of liberation and whilst I still draw and paint, concerns about the role of studio, production or skill set are gone. I feel pleased to be in new conversations about my work and excited about the opportunities that this presents. I particularly enjoy the unpredictability of the outcomes which lie somewhere between chance and intension.

Food of Love/Made with Love -A Pot Luck Dinner: 5th Tropical Lab, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore A participatory event gathering. Volunteer hosts invited their guests to bring a special dish of food to share -the dish was to have a special meaning relating to unconditional love. A Curry Puff circle event ran concurrently.

a. Setting up the Food of Love Made with Love 一 A Pot Luck Dinner Event, with a Curry Puff Circle Event 14 September 2011, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore

Ipoh-lpoh -The Curry Puff Project: 5th Tropical Lab, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore A participatory event. Participants were asked to write a recipe or a description of their favourite dish then embed the recipe inside a clay curry puff. The event was held for the duration of the Tropical Lab Workshop and associated exhibition at LaSalle College of the Art's ICA Gallery, 24 September -7 October 2011.

Row 1: a. Ipoh-lpoh Curry Puff Project, Detail Row 2: from left to right: b. Ipoh-lpoh -The Curry Puff Project - Installation with Curry Puff Circle, Masak-Masak 5th Tropical Lab Exhibition, LaSalle College of the Art's ICA Gallery, Singapore, 24 September -7 October 2011. c. Ipoh-lpoh -A Portable Curry Puff Circle, held alongside Food of Love Made with Love -A Pot Luck Dinner Event, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore, 14 September 2011. d. Ipoh-lpoh -The Curry Puff Project, Detail - A Recipe

The Food of

Love/ Made with Love: Part I - Recipe Log

Description: Part of a wider series of logs maintained by the artist. These are ongoing live archives that record aspects of the meetings and conversations (events) between the artist and her birth mother. The Recipe Log records the name of the dishes her mother has made for her or taught her to make and the date of making. Participants:

Duration: Dimensions: Medium:

Artist and her Birth Mother and others October 2010 -Ongoing Varies according to presentation format Varies according to presentation format (ink on paper, projection, virtual)

a. A Recipe Log, installed as part of Event Installation -Food of Love Made with Love Part III Being a Stranger at My Table, 8-11 February 2012, Jacki Ma Gallery, Central, Hong Kong

The Food of

Love/Made with

Love: Part II -A Staged Lunch

Description: A social gathering participatory event, re-enacting the preparation and sharing of selected recipes from the Food of Love/ Made with Love: Part I - Recipe Log. Participants: Duration: Location:

Medium:

Invited guests 3rd Day of Lunar New Year 2012 - ongoing Artist's Home Recipes from The Recipe Log, People, Table, Chairs, various perishable ingredients & various kitchen utensils

Row 1: Food of Love Made with Love Part II- A Staged Lunch Event: a. Bread II. b. Lamb His Family Way. c. Mint Sauce His Family Way. Row 2: d. Food of Love Made with Love Part II- Feeding Cake No VII e. Feeding Cake No VII, f. Food of Love Made with Love Part III -Being a Stranger at My Table - Preparing materials for exhibit installation, 7 February 2012 Artist's home, Hong Kong

The Food of

Love/Made with

Love: Part III - Being a Stranger at My Table

Description: A staged event/installation. In Being a Stranger at My Table the artist intends to place the audience into the shoes of her Birth Mother at the time when she first came to stay with the artist. The staging aims to induce a sense of her mother's experience, entering into a complex psychological situation where things seem welcoming yet foreign, unknown and unpredictable.

Dimensions: Participants: Duration: Medium:

Various Invited guests, gallery visitors 8-11 February 2012 Food relating to The Recipe Log, Table, 3 Chairs, various kitchen utensils, Pin Board, Shoe Rack, Doormat, Tape, Glass, Domestic Paint on canvas, People.

a. Food of Love Made with Love Part III -Being a Stranger at My Table, 8-11 February 2012, Jacki Ma Gallery, Central, Hong Kong . b. Food of Love Made with Love Part III - Being a Stranger at My Table 一 Detail The Threshold, c. Food of Love Made with Love Part III - Being a Stranger at My Table - Detail The Pin Board

The Food of

Love/Made with

Love: Part III - Being a Stranger at My Table

Food of Love Made with Love Part III -Being a Stranger at My Table, Detail - Post Event Remnants, 11 February 2012, Jacki Ma Gallery, Central, Hong Kong

ÿÿ'ANNIVERSARY }y

HONG KONG ARTS CENTRE

CONTACT DETAILS APRIL CHALLIS aprilchallis@yahoo.co.nz

EMMA LAU info@EmmaLauArt.com

www.EmmaLauArt.com

EVAN WU evanwu.art@gmail.com

http://evanwuart.tumblr.com

POLLY SNAITH polly@pollysnaith.com

RMIT UNIVERSITY

www.pollysnaith.com

HONG KONG ARTS CENTRE

香港藝術中心

香港藝術學院 HONG KONG ART SCHOOL A division of Hong Kong Arts Centre