"Paul Chan: First Exhibition in Hong Kong"
2006-07-08 until 2006-08-12
Para/site Art Space
Hong Kong, , HK Hong Kong

Para/Site Art Space is proud to present Paul Chan's first ever exhibition in Hong Kong. Paul Chan, born 1973 in Hong Kong, is an emerging young artist receiving tremendous attention in the current international art scene. Known for his animation installations, his works have fascinated audiences at major Biennials, group and solo exhibitions around the world. In the summer edition of ARTFORUM, senior editor, Scott Rothkopf writes. "In Chan's practice, a pop aesthetic at once winsome and brutal is brought to bear on the peculiar urgencies of our time. The point, then, is not to delimit the aesthetic and the political but rather to relish the productive possibilities of their mutual contamination."

An artist with multifarious endeavors , Chan works in digital animation, installation and drawing. Also a political activist, he spent time in Baghdad shortly before the war and organized protests against the Republican Convention in New York.

His solo exhibition at Para/Site Art Space showcases two new video pieces, 4 th Light and Untitled (for St. Caravaggio) .

His newest piece, 4 th Light , a digital animation projection that premieres in Hong Kong, is from a seven-part series . 1 st Light was shown at the Whitney Biennial this year. Intensely engaging, this installation of floating shadows was projected on the floor and produced a suggestive post-apocalyptic mood that gripped every visitor, evoking a sense of contemplation.

His other installation, Untitled (for St.Caravaggio) is a prelude to his Light series. Using very basic computer software like Freehand and Flash , Chan animated Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit (1599), in which the fruits float up and explode. Referencing Caravaggio, who used to dress up thieves and prostitutes to play saints to model as subjects of his paintings, the piece is a celebration of a perverted, reversed form of theology.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Hong Kong

Other Important Exhibitions in Hong Kong

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