Ngai Wing Lam: Searching for Lost Souls

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Foreword
We exist in a world full of conflict. Between humans there will always be this undercurrent of tension – it is the very essence of what makes us truly human. In this solo exhibition of Ant Ngai’s most recent works, the artist delves deeper into the sense of the unknown – do we really love each other? Do you really know what the other person thinks? This pervasive sense of conflict – that fight between what we see and what we think – is a potent, silent war that rages internally.

The artist is insistent that there is never an outright goodbye – because every ending is the most certain indicator that the next storyline of tension is about to start. This group of new paintings is a search for this elusive starting point. The intentional placement of characters in very recognisable Hong Kong locations – such as Tai Hang Tung near the Kowloon Tong district, and the Pak Tin Estate in Shek Kip Mei – is the artist’s way of trying to find bearings in this otherwise ever-changing world.

Do we ever know what we are looking for? Are the fish really lost? Is the idealised man inevitably directionless and empty? The main characters in this exhibition are not depicted in human form; yet they do represent a manifestation of all that we stand to lose, if people let go of what is precious.

The greatest crime is to be careless.
We invite you to exert some mental strength.

Words by:Joyce Ng

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Ngai Wing Lam (b.1986) born and raised in Hong Kong, graduated with a BA from Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Visual Arts in 2008. Painting is the main medium she works with, mostly in couplets. Content inspired from daily life, the nature and urban landscapes among the city. Fish Man always appear in her paintings. The Koi fish's speechless face hides inner emotions. The pair of Fish Man are put in the crowd with different postures and identities, depicting the life of contemporary people.

Ngai's early style was influenced by her dreams and paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on the shapes of character and partly describing love relationships. In recent years, she used Hong Kong's natural as background, focusing on the use of color, trying to explore the possibility of using coloring and brushstrokes to trigger emotional reading.

Ngai Wing Lam currently lives and works in Hong Kong. Her most recent exhibitions include the Tales of the Ocean (WWF-HK x Gallery by the Harbour 2020); Asia Art Archive’s annual auction 2020; Every Tuesday (Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, Hong Kong 2018); The Voyage of the Beagle (WINWIN ART, Taiwan 2017); 火腿 未，來來式 (HAM gallery, Taiwan 2017); Foo Tak Quartet Artists work showcase (Art and Culture Outreach, Hong Kong 2014); solo exhibition Until You Are Here (YY9 GALLERY, Hong Kong 2015); Reading the Time of Fish Man (Art and Culture Outreach, Hong Kong 2012). Her works are collected by different orginizations.