“Anonymous Society for Magick” at Blindspot Gallery, curated by Ying Kwok

“Anonymous Society for Magick” featuring Chen Wei, Hao Jinban, Lam Tung Pang, Wang Tuo and Trevor Yeung.

“Anonymous Society for Magick” is a group exhibition opening at Blindspot Gallery on the 14th of April in Hong Kong featuring works of various media by Chen Wei, Hao Jingban, Lam Tung Pang, Wang Tuo, and Trevor Yeung. Curator Ying Kwok borrows the concept of Magick from early nineteenth century occultist and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley’s definition of Magick as the ‘science of understanding oneself and one’s conditions,’ in a comparative study of how artists apply that understanding to their own artistic practices.

Chen Wei meticulously stages scenes of urban amazement and theatrical distraction, working across photography and mixed media installations. The ensemble includes a neon light installation Drifting Along (Hong Kong) (2020), which offers a diagnosis of the contemporary social conditions in China and Hong Kong.

Trevor Yeung recreates Mr. Butterflies (2012), an immersive site-specific kinetic installation in which bamboo palms propagates a carefully orchestrated environment. The human transformation of natural elements finds expression in Yeung’s Night Mushroom Colon (2020), a stealthy bioluminescence that suggests an otherworldly realm. Thriving in unlikely places, the fecundity and resilience of these mushrooms provide a case for survival in precarious times. 

Hao Jingban’s newest video, Opus One (2020), follows a young Chinese couple’s obsessive quest to master the Swing Dance, the jazz dance form popularized in 1930s and 50s Harlem New York by African Americans. Resulting from Hao’s winning the Han Nefkens Foundation – ARCOmadrid video art award (2019), the work is recently debuted in Matadero Madrid.

Exhibition Dates: 14 April 2020 – 30 May 2020

Opening Reception: 11 April 2020, Saturday, 4 – 6:30 pm

South Island Art Day: 25 April 2020, Saturday, 11 am – 6:30 pm

About Blindspot Gallery

Set up in 2010, Blindspot Gallery is a Hong Kong-based contemporary art gallery. The gallery began with a primary focus on contemporary photography and image-based art, and has evolved to include diverse media in contemporary art. The gallery represents both emerging and established artists, mainly from Hong Kong and the region but also beyond.

About the Curator

Ying Kwok has been an independent curator working internationally since 2013. She curated “Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief” in the Hong Kong pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), LOOK17 International Photography Festival in Liverpool (2017), and co- curated "Harmonious Society" at Asia Triennial Manchester (2014). Kwok also co-founded Art Appraisal Club to develop critical thinking in local art discourses in Hong Kong.

About the Artists

Chen Wei (b. 1980, Zhejiang, China) constructs personal narratives using found objects, fabricated props and staged scenes, all of which are meticulously constructed and assembled in his studio. Chen’s solo exhibitions include “Chen Wei: The Club” (Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia, 2017), and “Chen Wei: In the Waves” (K11 chi art museum, Shanghai, 2015).

Hao Jingban (b. 1985, Shanxi, China) has had solo and group exhibitions at Matadero Madrid (2020), OCAT Xi’an (2019), Centre Pompidou in Paris (2017), UCCA (2016) and Taikang Space in Beijing (2016), and the 11th Shanghai Biennale (2016). Hao is the recipient of the Young Artist of the Year award at the 11th Award of Art China (2017), the Han Nefkens Foundation – ARCOmadrid Video Art Award (2019), and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin residency programme (2020).

Lam Tung Pang (b. 1978, Hong Kong) belongs to a generation of Hong Kong artists whose coming-of-age coincides with drastic social changes, a result of the decolonisation and handover of Hong Kong. His work engage the themes of collective memories and fleeting nostalgia, which articulate an ongoing negotiation of the overlapping city-state’s reality. Lam is the recipient of the Asian Cultural Council fellowship in 2012. His recent solo exhibitions include “Hi! House – Lam Tungpang x Old House at Wong Uk Village” (Wong Uk Village, Hong Kong, 2017); and “The Curiosity Box” (Chinese Culture Center, San Francisco, USA, 2013).

Wang Tuo (b. 1984, Changchun, China) has had solo and group exhibitions at museums and institutions such as Queens Museum in New York (2017), Taikang Space in Beijing (2016), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung (2015), and Gezira Art Center in Cairo (2014). From 2015 to 2017, Wang was the artist-in-residence in the studio programme of the Queens Museum in New York. He won the 10th Three Shadows Photography Award in 2018.

Trevor Yeung (b.1988, Guangdong province) uses botanic ecology, horticulture, photography and installations as metaphors that reference the emancipation of everyday aspirations towards human relationships. Important exhibitions Yeung participated in include Lyon Biennale (Lyon, France, 2019), “Cruising Pavilion” at the 16th International Architecture Biennale (Venice, Italy, 2018); the 38th EVA International Biennale (Limerick, Ireland, 2018); the 4th Dhaka Art Summit (Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2018); and the 10th Shanghai Biennale (China, 2014).

All images and information courtesy of Artists and Blindspot Gallery.