[Press Release]
AU Hoi Lam, “There is a Song (Twelve Words Twelve Months Twelve Exercises),” 2012-‐2013. Pencil, acrylic, emulsion paint, linen, wooden board and wooden frame A set of 12 pieces, 95.9 x 126.3 x 5.2 cm each.
Osage is proud to present Au Hoi Lam: My Father is Over the Ocean, an exhibition featuring paintings and installations that the artist specially made in remembrance of her late father. Osage Open will be transformed to an imaginative ‘ocean’ and the installation of her late father’s bed and the song My Father slowly unfolds the theme of ‘yearning’.
“My Father, a song adapted from My Bonnie, is converted into imageries, symbols and sounds. The components of my father’s bed allow me to speak to him. All of these linger in the exhibition space -‐ the ‘ocean’ where 365 days of yearning is embedded in. This exhibition is also dedicated to all the fathers and anyone who misses their father.” Au said.
Through the work of her introspection of personal episodes, viewers are able to encounter the various experiences. While each individual experience is unique, it is expanded to the universal in the way Au closely observes the banality of the everyday and moulds it into an emblem of human emotions.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Au Hoi Lam graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (MFA 2004 & MPhil in Philosophy 2009). She works and lives in Hong Kong. In 2004, Au published Painting Journal and established studio Tone Quarters in Fo Tan. In 2010, she established studio Qiáng in Fo Tan with artists Tsang Chui-‐mei, AMA & Vivian Poon.
Through artistic creations, AU ruminates over her life experiences, but not to express herself eloquently. The subjects of her metaphorical and autobiographical work come from trivial but profound minute details of everyday life. AU regards her art objects as ways of ‘the care of the self’: memorandum, keepsake, symbol, relief, pastime, tranquilizer, vigilance, prayer and contemplative medium.
Recent exhibitions include Elsewhere: Au Hoi Lam & Sara Tse (Osage Soho 2011), Au Hoi Lam Reading Room (Muji Atelier, Hong Kong 2010), Definitions of Time: Paintings by Au Hoi Lam (Edge Gallery, Hong Kong 2010), Lui Chun Kwong. You Are Here, I am Not. (Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, 2010), Reversing Horizons: Artist Reflections of the Hong Kong Handover 10th Anniversary (MOCA Shanghai, Shanghai 2007), When Words are Sweet: Paintings by Au Hoi Lam (Central Library, Hong Kong 2006), Hong Kong Art Biennial 2003 (Hong Kong Museum of Art 2003) etc. Her works are collected by Hong Kong Museum of Art and private collectors.
AU Hoi Lam, “Dad, What Shade of Blue did You See Today?” 2012-‐2013.
Pencil, colour pencil, acid-‐free paper from daily-‐diary, oil-‐based ink, copper nails, corkboard, acrylic board and wooden frame. A set of 13 pieces, 100 x 100 x 2.4 cm each
AU Hoi Lam, “There are Some Pearls, ” 2012-‐2013. Pearl head pins, new printed cotton double and single bedding set, felt, used mattresses Dimension Variables
AU Hoi Lam, “I will Take Care of Each and Every One of Them”, 2012-‐2013. Acrylic, oil-‐based ink, fragment of a printed cotton bed sheet, cotton embroidery thread, 224 pieces of nuts and bolts of a used bunk bed. Dimension Variables
