Open Studios Show at the GASWORKS, London
*** PRESS RELEASE ***
International Residency Programme
Visiting Artists Open Studios
Opening Night: Thursday 13 December 2001, 6 - 9pm
Open Studios: 14 - 16 December 2001, 12-6pm.
Yao Jui-Chung - Taiwan
Yao's studio is inhabited by toys turned into golden monsters, attractive and tempting as well as violent and scary. For the open studio Yao Jui-Chung has also made a series of elaborate, large scale ball-pen drawings of imaginary figures, set against a background of gold leaf. In Yao's work high and low cultures are crossed, both on a material and a symbolic level. In his drawings he explores the dark side of the human being, making transparent the seemingly innocent.
In the drawing War and peace, the size of his studio wall, he plays with words by writing the title both in Chinese and western characters. While in the west the meaning is evocative of literature or topical events, in Chinese the sound of the English phrase 'war and peace' means 'shake hands and get shit on them'. The chinese characters are based on this disturbing meaning which clashes with the beauty of the writing and the material. Yao comments on gaps between cultures, the creation of misunderstandings and the meanings of war.
Yao Jui-Chung is an artist and writer. He has exhibited internationally including the Venice Biennale in 1997 and The Contemporary MoMA in Fukuoka, Japan. He lives and works in Taipei.
The work of Velez has been described as 'a metaphor for love, sex and mortality'. In his installations, with a characteristic mix of seriousness and humour, he uses video, photography and CD rom to explore emotional states and to transform everyday objects into something personal, strange and unrecognisable.
Humberto Velez - Panama
The work of Velez has been described as 'a metaphor for love, sex and mortality'. In his installations, with a characteristic mix of seriousness and humour, he uses video, photography and CD rom to explore emotional states and to transform everyday objects into something personal, strange and unrecognisable.
For his open studio at Gasworks, Velez will present 'The Caretaker', a video installation that combines hallucinations, obsessions and memories. It is set in Manchester's Victoria Baths, which was closed in 1993, and was the finest historic swimming pool complex of its day in the north of England.
His residency will conclude with 'L'Avventura', an installation piece at St Peter's Church, Vauxhall, where Velez will hang a papier-m歊h?pi鎙ta in the shape of a pterodactyl. 'L'Avventura' is inspired by fantasies and scientific discoveries of the Victorian era.
'L'Avventura' will be shown at Vauxhall St Peter's Heritage Centre, 310 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5HY from 10 January to 10 February 2002.
Humberto Velez works as an artist, film-maker and art critic. He has exhibited extensively in Latin America and in Europe and has been selected to present the centrepiece of the Lima Biennial in 2002. He lives and works in Panama and UK.
Yao Jui-Chung is supported by the Council for Foreign Affairs, Taiwan and Taiwan International Artists' Village.
Humberto Velez is supported by The Arts Council of England and Visiting Arts.
Triangle Arts Trust, 155 Vauxhall Street, The Oval London SE11 5RH
Telephone +44 (0)20 7587 5202 Fax +44 (0)20 7582 0159 E-mail: alessio@gasbag.org
Registered Charity No: 326411
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