osage CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY Osage Hong Kong 4/F, Union Hing Yip Factory Buiding, 20 Hing Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong T 852. 2389 8332 E info@osagegallery.com W www.osagegallery.com Press Release 26th February, 2014 Attention Arts and Features Editors For immediate release Space Drawing The First Solo Exhibition of in Hong Kong (Held concurrently with Touch, solo exhibition by Ma Shuqing and Pearl River Delta Series I: Made in Hong Kong, solo exhibition by Leung Mee Ping) Opening Reception 1 March, Saturday, 4-6 pm Exhibition Period 1 March to 1 April, 2014 Osage Gallery is proud to present s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. Entitled Space Drawing, the exhibition will feature his award- winning video work*, Space Drawing 07. Space Drawing 07 was filmed in an abandoned warehouse in the city centre of Limerick, Ireland in and follows the trajectory of a taut rope as it is released and ricochets across the dusty floors, through the rusty rollers of a conveyor belt, and in and out of the warehouse. The rope simultaneously delineates, sculpts and deconstructs the sites that it moves through. The work thus reinterprets the function of a line, extending the traditional two- dimensional practice of drawing into a three- dimensional spatial intervention that works across the borders between installation, drawing, performance, film and sculpture. chose the abandoned warehouse as the site for the video after thorough contemplation. Like many other forsaken urban spaces in the city, this is a place where emptiness and decay are slowly taking place within a manufactured and civilized urban landscape. The site had an elusive openness that held both the remnants and potentials of time, which the artist activated, reinterpreting the inherent movements of the time and space through the precise choreography of the rope. Such gestures are evident of the artist s sensitivity to the characters of everyday objects, as well as the witty, mischievous and explorative qualities inherent in the artist s practice. The simultaneous
playfulness and precision, tightness and looseness to s approach is perhaps what creates a tension in the movement of the work itself. The artist states, My work is an intuitive reflection of specific space and time through playfully deconstructing the identity boundaries of everyday objects, found materials, or situations, such as a damaged signboard or a half- eaten broccoli. Through the movements of construction/deconstruction and position/deposition, I am interested in looking at different ways of reading evolving from the simple, quotidian means. Space Drawing 07 is a part of a larger series, entitled Space Drawing, that the artist has been creating and filming in locations such as London and Bracknell (UK), Moscow and Kaliningrad (Russia), Singapore, Chengdu (China) and Frankfurt (Germany) since 2007. The series has been widely shown in international film festivals, such as the Busan International Short Film Festival, and the International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama, 2009 and now Space Drawing No. 7 will be shown at Osage Hong Kong. * Best Creativity Award, Local Futures: Young Overseas Chinese Invitational Exhibition, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, 2013. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ABOUT THE ARTIST CHEN SAI HUA KUAN was born in 1976 in Singapore. He graduated from the LASALLE College of the Arts in 1997, and received a Master in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, in 2007. Visually simple and often labourious in execution, Sai's practice often incorporates cross- disciplinary elements of sculpture, drawing, installation, sound and performance with wit and energy. He received numerous awards including Artist- in- residency Award (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, 2013); The People's Choice Award (Mostyn Open 18, Wales, United Kingdom, 2013); The EOS Visiting Artist Program (Earth Observatory of Singapore, 2012); Best of WRO (14 th Media Art Biennale WRO 2011 Alternative Now, Wroclaw, Poland, 2011); Artist- in- residency Award (Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, 2011); Best film of FAFF (Fundada Artists Film Festival, Wakefield, United Kingdom, ); Winner of the international competition Tower Kronprinz: Second Advent (National Centre for Contemporary Art, Kaliningrad, Russia, 2009). Sai has exhibited extensively, at occasions that include Singapore Biennale 2013: If the World Changed (Singapore Art Museum), Sound of the Earth (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, 2013), The Realm in the Mirror, the Vision out of Image Singapore Contemporary Art Exhibition (Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, China, 2013), 7 th International Arte Laguna Prize (Arsenale, Venice, Italy, 2013), Drawing Now Paris Le Salon Du Dessin Contemporain (Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris, 2013), Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia (Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2012), Attraction of the Opposites (International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands,
2011), Luleå Art Biennial (Luleå, Sweden, 2011), Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (Moscow, Russia, ), EV+A (Limerick, Ireland, ), Busan International Short Film Festival (Busan, South Korea, ), Summer Exhibition (Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom) and CREAM: Yokohama International Festival for Arts and Media 2009 (Yokohama, Japan). ABOUT OSAGE GALLERY Osage Gallery was established in Hong Kong in 2004 and grew quickly to become one of Asia s largest commercial gallery groups. Osage has become well- known in art circles in Asia and in the art world for its uncompromising support for the most challenging and critically thought- provoking contemporary art. Osage Gallery is curatorially driven and devoted to the exhibition and promotion of Asian contemporary visual arts. It aims to be a catalyst for the creative expression of the artists and the active engagement of audiences by embracing a global, multidisciplinary and diverse approach to the creation, presentation and interpretation of the arts of our time. It examines the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, and our cultures and communities through high quality programmes of research, exhibition and publications. Osage operates a major space in Hong Kong in the fast developing central business district of East Kowloon. Osage Hong Kong is in an industrial building, which can be configured for a variety of artistic encounters. The raw space allows for the exploration and presentation of experimental and innovative works in all media including performance, installation, interactive multimedia and motion picture. Osage Hong Kong combines 10,000 square foot of interior gallery space with two outdoor terraces of 5000 square feet. Osage Shanghai is currently used for artist residency programme and comprises two floors of space totalling 10,000 square foot. Osage Beijing is a 1,500 square foot space functioning as studio residency sporting a five- meter high ceiling. Osage Gallery has gained wide international recognition for the quality of its programmes and was the first Hong Kong gallery to be selected to the Art Basel art fair in 2011, Frieze Masters in London in 2012, Arte Fiera 2014 in Bologna, Art Cologne 2014 in Germany and Moving Image New York 2014. www.osagegallery.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEDIA ENQUIRIES Chloe Chu 852. 2389 8332 852. 2172 1619 chloechu@osagegallery.com DOCENT- GUIDED VISIT REGISTRATION (Please make appointments at least 5 days in advance.) Grace Lam 852. 2389 8332 852.2172 1635 gracelam@osagegallery.com Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 10.30 am to 6.30 pm Sun 2.30 to 6.30 pm Open to special appointments & arrangements outside of these times Venue: Osage Hong Kong 4/F, Union Hing Yip Factory Building, 20 Hing Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESS IMAGE Download high- res images from the following links: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hn3zllzkncax6uy/fccv- A8i9X OR http://myaccount.dropsend.com/file/8cb2a3e0e2546125
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