KWAN Sheung Chi: 100 things, a little retrospective 關尚智 《百物。一點回溯》
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KWAN Sheung Chi
100 things, a little retrospective 18 May – 22 June 2012 Gallery EXIT announces “100 things, a little retrospective,” the second solo exhibition of KWAN Sheung Chi with the gallery. Kwan staged his first retrospective in 2002 at the age of 22 as a tongue-in-cheek demonstration of what he had learnt and not learnt in art school. In the intervening decade, his practice encompassed social intervention and commentary,the deconstruction and reconstruction of the identity of an artist, performative actions that defy success and failure, and of late, the spirit of availability. It is that spirit which permits us simply to let things be in whatever may be their uncertainty and their mystery. The works on view will illustrate these approaches with a focuson recent works that have not been shown in Hong Kong before. KWAN Sheung Chi was born in 1980, Hong Kong. He obtained a third class honour in B.A. Fine Art from The Chinese University of Hong Kong [CUHK] in 2003. He failed in applying for its MFA programme in 2004 and 2007. In 2000, he was named the “King of Hong Kong New Artist”. In 2002, “Kwan Sheung Chi Touring Series Exhibitions, Hong Kong” toured 10 major exhibition venues in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Art Centre presented “A Retrospective of Kwan Sheung Chi”. In 2003, he set up a studio in the Fo Tan industrial district and since then became an active member of the Fotanian artists’ studios complex. From 2004 he became a nine-to-fiver in Central. On 1st January 2008, he determined not to sell any of his artworks for 3 years. However, he broke his pledge and the statement was auctioned during his solo show “No matter. Try again. Fail again.” at Gallery EXIT on 15th October 2009. In addition to his studio practice, he co-founded the Hong Kong Arts Discovery Channel (HKADC) in February 2009, a web-based channel that aims at promoting critical discourse through interviews with artists, curators, critics and the audiences. He is also a founding member of local art groups, hkPARTg (Political Art Group) and Woofer Ten, which experiment with art practices in relation to local politics, social issues and communities. In 2009, He was awarded the Starr Foundation Fellowship through the Asian Cultural Council to take part in a residency program in New York, USA. His artworks have not been widely exhibited around the world and he has never participated in any major exhibitions held internationally. |