INTENDED as 'a painting exhibition that has nothing to do with painting', Chan Yuk-keung's solo show plays around the edges of the genre and its possible limits, resulting in one of the most elegantly installed exhibitions seen in recent times.
It seems to be a determined strategy to produce a one-person show in a public space, with all works restricted to a size of 40 inches (96cms) square (the imperial measure used perhaps could be read as a form of colonial cultural indexing).
Usually this approach is reserved as a 'best seller' concept for a group show or for a commercial gallery.
Chan's accompanying exhibition 'instructions' speak of his religious-like approach to making art. It is hard not to talk and write about art in exhausted cliches and his statement is no exception.
All his pieces at the stark, pristine Goethe Institut are untitled. On a central partition are two works installed on the wall's edges that protrude into space. On one side, a projection screen has been replaced by calico, shielding a glowing lightbulb with a base made from a branch.
On the opposite is a 'windmill' made with rulers and cables. A Chinese bowl serves as an anchor, padded with a blue bandana.
I am sure the work does not intend to deal with the notion of male sexual identity, but the possible gay subculture link that the bandana underpins is impossible to ignore.
