Hong Kong galleries showcase up-and-coming local talent in debut exhibitions

Art Experience Foundation’s ‘First Smash’ features artists who have never previously shown their work in public, and its fourth edition is an indication of the depth and breadth of talent in the city

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From left: Leung Mong-sum, Chan Oi-yan, Hung Ching-yan, Vera Chiu and Chang Yue-lam are the young artists featured in this year's First Smash exhibition at Art Experience Gallery. Photo: courtesy of Art Experience Foundation

Published: 5:00pm, 30 Aug 2017Updated: 5:24pm, 30 Aug 2017

Several Hong Kong art galleries this week are marking the end of the summer lull by launching energetic shows of work by young, local artists. Statistically, the bulk of the fresh talent featured will never attain the conventional markers of a successful artist or necessarily be creating art consistently in a few years’ time. Those who stick with it may change style drastically as their own voice emerges out of the shadow of their tutors.

Never mind all that. Some of the participants have delved deep to produce works that have the honesty and power to make an indelible impression.

Hung and her series “To Be Used Someday”. Photo: courtesy of Art Experience Foundation

Take Hung Ching-yan’s installation about her fond but distant relationship with her mother. She made a series of photographs of the inexplicable objects that her mother insists on stashing away, called To Be Used Someday.

The images of old shopping coupons, impractical plastic containers and other items seemingly devoid of economic or emotional value are shown along with what Hung calls her “diary of stealing” – a logbook of all the items she photographed without consulting her mother.

Dialogue with Mom A Month With You by Hung Ching-yan (2016). Photo: courtesy of Art Experience Foundation

Another section features a photo album of stealthy images that Hung and her mother took of each other, titled Dialogue with Mom A Month With You, and pictures her father secretly took of the mother and daughter together. These have to be seen against the context of how the 24-year-old was brought up by her grandmother because both her parents worked long hours – a not uncommon arrangement in Hong Kong. There is a now a desperate desire for mother and daughter to understand each other, but their mutual shyness is heartbreaking.