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Sarah Lai & Sébastien Mahon: RADIANCE 晃

Dates & Times

31st May – 1st July, 2014

Tuesday – Friday: 12pm – 6pm
Saturday, Sunday & Public holidays: 10am – 7pm

Opening reception on Saturday 31st May, 2014, 5:00 – 7:00pm Artists & curator talk at 4:00pm

Venue

The Pulse, 3/F, 28 Beach Road, Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

Sébastien Mahon
Woman Floating Field’s
2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 110 x 110 cm

Sarah Lai 黎卓華 10:59 AM 2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 122 x 183 cm

Cultural exchange project & site-specific exhibition An event of Le French May 2014

Media Preview with the artists and the curator: Friday 30th May, 2014, 3:00 – 4:30pm

In November 2013, Mur Nomade invited Beijing-based French painter Sébastien Mahon and Hong Kong artist Sarah Lai to start a six-month conversation, sharing their sensations and thoughts about their creative processes and artworks. To deepen the artistic and cultural exchange, Sarah Lai received a travel grant to travel to France and conduct research on the winter light. Radiance is the materialization of this artistic collaboration.

The choice of the exhibition space participates to the dialogue and echoes the radiance of the artworks. It is set on the top floor of The Pulse, a mall stretching along Repulse Bay beach. Scheduled to open soon but still empty and raw, the venue provides a unique exhibition space facing the sea and capturing its glimmering reflection of light.

Poetry readings and contemporary dance performances will be held at the venue during the exhibition period. Please contact info@murnomade.com for more information.

Sébastien Mahon
Woman Floating Field’s
2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 110 x 110 cm

Sarah Lai 黎卓華 Sparkly 2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 71.5 x 107 cm

Curatorial statement (excerpts)

Golden and sparkly winter light for Lai; complex, warm and delusive for Mahon: the two artists are both fascinated with light as it reveals the inexhaustible depths of the appearance of things.

Previously, they both painted the unfathomable surface of the water, be it pool or sea, with its golden reflections, dark shadows or plain flat cover. Flirting with the invisible, they play games at the borders of reality, transposing the process of seeing into a kind of parallel system where the invisible becomes visible and where the visible has disappeared.

For this exhibition, they started a dialogue six months ago, sharing their sensations and thoughts about their creative process and artworks. From still life to landscape, they explored how light shapes reality and how it actually alters or moulds our perception of the sensible world.
Radiance refers, then, to the sunlight that shines from their paintings. It is also a metaphor for the revelations induced by the act of painting as a means of conveying the artists’ inner landscapes, and their vision of the world.

The space, vast, simple and open, reflects the visions of the two painters. The rawness of the floor and walls suggests their simplicity and enhances the artworks for themselves. Far from the busy city, between sky and earth, mountain and ocean, it offers a shelter where to make a break and reconsider our relationship to the real.

I About Sarah Lai I

Born in 1983, Sarah Lai lives and works in Hong Kong. She obtained her BA in Fine Arts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007. She was a finalist of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Her solo exhibitions include Spotting the light onto a light, Gallery EXIT (Hong Kong, 2013), ART TAIPEI (Taipei, 2013), Safety Island, Gallery EXIT (Hong Kong, 2011), ART HK 10 (Hong Kong, 2010). Sarah Lai’s works are collected internationally.

The subjects of Sarah Lai’s paintings include highly familiar, mundane objects such as a desk lamp, a steam rack, or a glass of water. Isolated from their ordinary context and deprived of indications of their utilitarian function, these relics of our commodity culture take on a surprising aura, reaching a certain degree of abstraction and beauty.

Sarah Lai 黎卓華 04:39 PM 2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 122 x 183 cm

I About Sébastien Mahon IBorn in 1970, Sébastien Mahon is a French painter living and working in Beijing. He studied at Bordeaux Academy of Fine Arts and at the School of Visual Communication. His early career led him from drawing roughs for advertising to book illustration, and he has been a full time artist for a decade. His paintings and ink on paper works are in foundations and private collections in Asia, Europe and the U.S.A.

In his paintings, Sébastien Mahon makes a bold use of the cavalier perspective and cleverly mixes contrasting vibrant colours. They depict imaginary and poetic landscapes, and transform them into stage settings and narratives, with illogical combinations of abstract backgrounds and figures.

Sébastien Mahon
Sea of Breeze’s Course
2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 140 x 170 cm

I About Caroline Ha Thuc I

Caroline Ha Thuc is a French curator and art writer, writing for Art Press magazine in France and contributing to several publications in Hong Kong. Moving constantly between Hong Kong, Paris and Tokyo via Beijing, her path takes her to some of the world’s most innovative artists as she strives to understand their works and their connections to society.

In 2013, Caroline Ha Thuc published Contemporary Art in Hong Kong, which provides essential keys to apprehend the city’s vibrant contemporary landscape and exposes the countless links between history, culture and identity. This year, she has just published After 2000: Contemporary Art In China, which explores the new trends in art practices in China.

I About Mur Nomade I

Mur Nomade is a curatorial office and gallery. Our name is the French translation of ‘nomadic wall’. We present site-specific projects in selected venues all around Hong Kong, in addition to regular

exhibitions at our gallery space in Aberdeen. We work closely with local and international artists to imagine and conceive exhibitions and programmes such as artist residencies, collaborative art projects, travel grants, workshops and outreach initiatives.

Mur Nomade focuses on projects encouraging cultural exchanges and creative encounters. We like bold ideas and we are convinced that cultural exchanges support creativity, stimulate emulation and encourage experimentation.

www.murnomade.com

I Le French May I

Organised by the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, Le French May has attracted over 5 million visitors since its inception in 1993. With more than 120 events spanning two months, Le French May is the most diversified festival in Asia: from exhibitions and performances to cinema and gastronomy, the Festival is a cultural platform that showcases the finest art forms and cultural exchanges.

Celebrating French arts and culture, the 22nd edition of Le French May presents a selection of performances, exhibitions and screenings in Hong Kong and Macau, from May 2nd to June 28th, 2014. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and France, Le French May celebrates the everlasting exchanges, present cross-influences and explore the similarities between French and Chinese cultures.

www.frenchmay.com

  • Sébastien Mahon
Sea of Breeze's Course
2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 140 x 170 cm

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  • Sarah Lai 黎卓華 04:39 PM 2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 122 x 183 cm

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  • Sarah Lai 黎卓華 Sparkly 2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 71.5 x 107 cm

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  • Sébastien Mahon
Woman Floating Field’s
2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 110 x 110 cm

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  • Sébastien Mahon
Woman Floating Field’s
2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 110 x 110 cm

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  • Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 2.01.28 PM

    Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 2.01.28 PM

  • Sarah Lai 黎卓華 10:59 AM 2014 Oil on canvas 布面油畫 122 x 183 cm

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