Participating artists include Kacey Wong, Kiwi Liu, Rob Luxton, Wendy Lau from Hong Kong; Judith & Richard Selby Lang from the United States.
About artists and their works
1. Kiwi Liu (aka Miss FAT)
Miss FAT Series – The Goddess of Sharks
Fiberglass, Wood, PVC fabric, Acrylic paint
Fiberglass statue 150cm × 150cm
Circular base 100cm x 150cm
Acrylic paintings x 2 Each 60cm ×45cm
Kiwi is the main member of ‘Wan Chai Livelihood Museum’ 2006 -09. In 2008, she set up her first studio in the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre and became the youngest artist at this centre. She also has a series of self-portrait work ‘Miss FAT’, which expresses her emotions and reflects the position of contemporary female.
This is the story of the Goddess of Sharks.
In 1970s, human started to cut the fins off sharks massively for delicate cuisine and threw the trunks back to the ocean, making the marine ecosystem fragile. It is said that the dying sharks made their last attempt to take revenge against human in the form of “Shark-man”.
In a fishing village, a girl named “Ava” was almost drowned in a mishap, but was blessed to be saved by “Shark-man”. In return, “Ava” went by the sea every day to safeguard the sharks against the evil.
Beloved by the sharks, “Ava” became the goddess of them and lived in the deep blue ocean. As an ambassador of ocean and human, she vowed to protect every form of marine life and balance the oceanic system.
The four-handed goddess was worshipped for bringing peace to the sea and the seaside. Lily in her hand represents a pure and genuine love; while the fishy-shaped hulu is the bearer of water. The ying-yang pearl makes an eternal balance of ecosystem. Her drum can hit the heart of people to save the sharks. The long and wavy hair is made of water, and is shiny and sparkling. The Goddess of Sea is always accompanied by the “Shark-man”.
2. Wendy Lau
Broken Pieces
Leftover Leather, glass bottles
240cm × 120cm × 60cm
Wendy Lau King Man, is a graduate of Design (BA), and Industrial and Product Design (IPD) from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Upon graduation, Wendy started her own label “UUendy Lau” which focuses mainly on fashion accessories. She is also involved in a number of design events and exhibitions that not only promote her work but also provide the opportunity for her to interact with different designers from all over the world, including TEDx Youth 2012. Her products are now available at several shops in Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Shanghai and New York.
The artist combined waste and unwanted materials such as glass, plastic bottles and leftover leather to create her artwork “Broken Pieces”. The fins of the shark are painted in red and they are detached from the shark’s body. By doing this, the artist intended to highlight the problem of shark finning that is responsible for the rapid decline in global shark populations. The artist is also reflecting on marine pollution as the bottles are filled with rubbish and sea water.
The artist enjoys spending time near the ocean because the waves and their changing colours have a calming effect on her. By participating in the Ocean Art Walk 2013, the artist hopes to shed light on the serious marine environment issues we are facing and to inspire and ignite action and change.
3. Kacey Wong
Death by Amputation
Recycled wood and lights
200cm x 200cm x 300cm
Kacey Wong’s experimental art investigates the space between men and their living environment with a social element. He is the founding member of Art Citizens and Street Design Union which investigates artist’s and designer’s role in social political causes. He is now Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Design’s Environment and Interior Design Discipline. His mobile tricycle project “Wandering Homes” was featured at the 2008 Venice Architectural Biennale in Italy. His floating house “Paddling Home” was performed on Hong Kong Victoria Harbour and his mobile bulk bed “Sleepwalker” was the star feature during the 2010 and 2012 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture exhibition. Wong is the recipient of the HK Contemporary Arts Award 2012 awarded by the Hong Kong Art Museum, as well as the recipient of the Best Artist Award in 2010 and the Rising Artist Award and Outstanding Arts Education Award awarded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2003.
Imagine having your arms cut off and then being left for dead as you sink to the bottom of the ocean, unable to move. Only because a part of your anatomy is considered a delicacy by a few select people. This sculpture depicts the torso of a dying shark. What is the shark feeling? What is the shark thinking? How can be possibly comprehend the barbaric act of shark finning and what does it mean for the future of these great predators?
4. Rob Luxton
Looksy Looksy
Wooden box, mirror finishes
120cm x 120cm x 150cm
Rob Luxton has lived and worked in Hong Kong for over 16 years. As an artist and designer his focus has always been on creating out of the box installations, odd machines and push button automata. Things that move, fly, intrigue, question or make you smile, are what inspires and gives life to his creations. He is also the founder of the creative studio Aeroporto.
An intriguing display case for people to look inside in which can bring people into a deep sea diving vessel and to view beneath the sea. Inside, a reflective world of mirrors, highly polished stainless steel sharks, corals and marine life. Bouncing light, shapes and images creates an oceanic diorama. The effect will seemingly go on forever. A complex interconnected network. A thing of beauty echoing a reality that should be preserved not destroyed.
5. Richard and Judith Selby Lang
Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting plastic debris off one beach in Northern California for over ten years. Each piece of plastic Richard and Judith pick up comes back to their house, where it gets cleaned, categorized and stored before being used for their art. The couple make sculptures, prints, jewelry and installations with the plastic they find washed up, raising a deeper concern with the problem of plastic pollution in our seas. Their project, One Beach Plastic, has been included in 40 exhibitions in San Francisco.
Net Man
Old fishing nets from Aberdeen
Footprint: 275 cm x 275 cm
Height: 275 cm
Net Man is composed of old fishing nets collected from the fishermen in Aberdeen, in a tribute to the ocean. Net Man represents a character from the ocean, who comes out of the water to show his pleasure about the revival of the biodiversity of Hong Kong waters as a result of new controls on overfishing. As a testimony to the resilience of the ocean, Net Man celebrates the healing forces of nature.
Water Lilies
Water Lilies
3,000+ plastic bottles
Diameter oval: 150 cm
Overall dimension will vary- approximately 8m diameter
Water Lilies is a group of water lilies made from empty single use plastic water bottles. The shimmering floating “pads” is an example of a beautiful reuse of what might otherwise be trash if not recycled properly. This work was originally produced for the Palo Alto Art Center On the Road program. The artist has stated “Plastic is my primary material because it’s free, it’s ubiquitous, it’s archival. As we come to the end of the Era of Oil, plastic seems to be the material most expressive of our times. And, like diamonds, it is forever.”
Full Fathom Five Banners
High Resolution Images of unwoven fishing nets, left to drift, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
150 cm x 275 cm
Ocean of Plastic
High-resolution images of plastic were super-imposed on a photograph taken in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
150 cm x 275 cm
The shape and content of these images is inspired by Jackson Pollock’s seminal painting Full Fathom Five, in turn derived from Ariel’s song from Shakepeare’s The Tempest:
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Each print references a particular Pollock painting, and has been made of the fibers of old fishing net which was found, floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (known as a “ghost net”, as it has no owner, but can continue to kill wildlife and cause damage to boats). The images are called:
Convergence
Eye in the Heat
Lavender Mist
Shimmer
Convergence
Eye in the Heat
Lavender Mist
Shimmer
Plastic Buffet
Plastic pieces collected from Pt. Reyes National Seashore, California
45.72 cm x 91.44 cm
In 1999 we started collecting plastic debris that washes up onto Kehoe Beach, a remote stretch of the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Northern California. We were attracted to bright colorful shards and fragments that would show what is happening on the beaches and in the oceans around the world. Back in our studio we clean, sort and categorize the pieces then create photo tableaus that focus attention on the problem of plastic pollution. Years before this project began we were each at work in our own studios making paintings, drawings, prints and constructions. We’ve used our artistic training to create this suite of prints, but rather than paint or pencil we use shards of plastic as our medium. While making the arrangements, the plastic is seen only for color and form, not the things they once were—a toy soldier, a barrette, a shampoo bottle. They become akin to strokes of paint coming off a palette. Often at the beach we will find ourselves “shopping” for a certain color or size to fill out an abstract idea. We never think of making a story with our work, aside from the larger story of plastic in our lives.
Photos credit: Wilson tang Photography
