'Yeung's works not only display the sensation of exigency and anxiety which is rare among Hong Kong art, but also reflect manifold meanings through his employment of sex and violence'. Oscar Ho
Hong Kong artists retrospective II
The Red Twenty Years
Yeung's works not only display the sensation of exigency and anxiety which is
rare among Hong Kong art, but also reflect manifold meanings through his
employment of sex and violence
- Oscar Ho, The Definition of Abjection and Violence in Ying
Choi column in Hong Kong Economic Journal, 4 Oct 1987. (original text in
Chinese)
In response to the insufficiency of the Hong Kong contemporary art scene,
Para/Site, apart from providing young artists opportunities for experimental
projects, starts to introduce a series of retrospective exhibitions for
established local artists this year. The foremost retrospective research-based
exhibition featuring on May Fung was held in last May and June. The second
featured artist in this November will be Yeung Sau-churk.
Yeung became well known in the local art scene during the 1980s for his radical
expression. The imagery of sex and death is the hallmark of his early works,
disclosing the distortion of humanity and the dark side of the human psychic
that he experiences in real life. Although most of his early works are paintings
(acrylic on paper) and sculptures (plaster), the most conspicuous work was his
performance installation Man and Cage, in which he became part of the artwork,
by encaging himself in a bamboo cage for 48 hours. This piece is full of
existentialistic heroism and is one of the local cannons by which the art circle
still relishes today.
The development of his artist career is quite common in Hong Kong: he became
established before he received any formal art education Due to the unrest and
disturbance in society as well as in his personal life between 1987 and 1989,
Yeung resolved courageously to leave everything behind and tramp over Europe.
After returning in 1991, he went to college again and entered into a new stage
for both his life and art. Yeung¡¦s artworks became more conceptual and
objective, rather than being radical and misanthropic as before. In spite of
these changes, he kept on addressing different political issues in Hong Kong.
His installation The Genealogy of Star and Sound in the Art & Space: From
Sculpture to Installation exhibition at the University of Science and
Technology in 1993 was an example in this period. After graduation, Yeung
devoted himself to art education and has worked as a secondary school teacher
until the present. Besides teaching, he is involved in many community art
projects for the minorities in order to make changes in a more direct and
personal fashion.
In addition to the new commission works, this exhibit will display other
original works, sketches and precious documentations by Yeung from the past
(some of them have never been publicly shown). Para/Site will publish a
catalogue to accompany the exhibition.
Preview: 1 November (Fri) 2002 6pm
Artist Forum: 10 November 2002 (Sun) 3 pm
Special guest: Oscar Ho
Research/ curator: Anthony Leung
Para/Site Art Space
Hanart, 2/F, 5 Queen's Road Central
Hong Kong