27 June – 28 September 2008
Chinese Arts Centre is proud to present What are you looking at? – the first UK solo exhibition by acclaimed text installation artist Tsang Kin-Wah. Featuring two site specific installations, What are you looking at? seeks to expose hidden or avoided facts about the world around us. Look a little closer, all is not what it seems..
Tsang Kin-Wah always works with text in his artworks, using stong statements and foul language to make a direct comment about various aspects of modern life. The text is initially concealed, either in a pattern or in the space, requiring the viewer to look closer as the installations are never what they initially appear to be.
In the main gallery Tsang presents a minimal text installation inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic, The Shining. In the darkened seemingly blank space, haunting sound clips play as the work demands close inspection to trace the artist’s message. Threatening sentences run around the walls, which combined with the chilling soundtrack and minimal light create a heightened sense of danger. Through the work Tsang aims to raise our awareness of the hidden dangers and threats of violence that lurk in the surroundings where we often take our safety for granted.
The second work, I Love U, is a pattern installation in the bathrooms at Chinese Arts Centre. The pretty floral pattern wallpapering the space initially masks the Chinese and English text that make up the work. Cheeky phrases carefully arranged in a floral motif reveal the artist’s observation of modern relationships, asking us whether ‘I love you’ is really valid if that love dependant on wealth or looks.
