A+ Contemporary is please to present Hong Kong artist Morgan Wong’s first solo exhibition in Taiwan: “The Dashes; The Laughter; The Reservoirs”. Morgan Wong’s interest in the notion of time has developed into two intertwining directions – micro and macro perspectives of comprehension. The personal perception, or micro narrative, is woven into the bigger narrative of social changes in history. Through contemplation of three individual incidents, which are nevertheless connected with each other, this exhibition examines the temporality of sovereignty. During the exhibition, A+ Contemporary will also hold an Art Talk, inviting Morgan Wong, Gao Jun Honn (Artist) and Esther Lu (Independent Curator and Director of TCAC) to convene at 3pm on 23rd September at Asia Art Center Taipei II.
The exhibition “The Dashes; The Laughter; The Reservoirs” comprised of three sections: paintings, video and digital prints, and sound installation. While the three sections each refers to one word within the exhibition title, each corresponds to another to represent a comprehensive narration towards the subject matter. Within each eleven paintings, a black line protrudes boldly out of the largely emptied canvas. Lines often distinguish explicit boundaries. When a line is crossed, there is a disruption. The practice to draw a line is an affirmative manifestation and often also an action to seize control. Moreover, when a line is contrived to curved under external forces, it implies an unseen manipulation over the subject; The Dashes aims to convert discrete concepts into visible description. As a result, the artist’s practice to draw lines is repeated, losing its distinctness in politics, revising its forms with subtleness. The artworks are, thus, independent from the restricted contexts.
To extend, there is a dark room in which one is enveloped within laughter that one could not find source of. One confined only to focus on the dimly lit memorial plate. As both visual and audio senses are under temporarily controlled condition, the installation conveys vigorous and bewildering sensation. Not a Century; Not a Millennium; Just Five More Years is a video depicting an emptied conference room. The bright scenery outside the window facade alleviates the intensity that once happened on the conference table in the room. Numerous issues have been discussed, resolved, or compromised. How many of them stay? Three black and white digital print shows aerial view of four seemingly peaceful reservoirs. While topped underneath an unknown architectural plan, the only connection of the them are the name “Tai Tam”. If the photograph itself is not the essence of the work, but only a means, we may also doubt what does “Tai Tam” or other terms are conveying.
As a young artist, Morgan Wong delineates the relationship between history and the present-day condition with insight. Before, the artist has experimented varying approaches in articulating boundaries, through scents or wasted effort. In “The Dashes; The Laughter; The Reservoirs”, Morgan Wong employs unexplored medium while maintaining the quiet and minimal language. In this latest exhibition, three events are examined under the lens of microscope, and new narratives are found in the seemingly settled context. Perhaps, it is within tranquility, “The Dashes; The Laughter; The Reservoirs” conveys the artist’s depth in experience and perceptive awareness of the contemporary society contested subject.
About the Artist
Morgan Wong was born in 1984 in Hong Kong. He currently lives and works in Hong Kong. His selected solo exhibitions include: An Inch of Time; An Inch of Gold(Artbasel Hong Kong-Discoveries, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, 2018) (Upcoming), Mean Time(Centre A, Vancouver, 2016),The Dashes; The Laughter; The Reservoirs (organized by A+ Contemporary, Asia Art Center Taipei II, Taipei, 2016), KIGOJA Standard Time(KST) (KIGOJA, Seoul, 2016), Untitled–Expressway(Rolls Royce Motor Car Showroom, Hong Kong, 2015), Filing Down a Steel Bar Until a Needle is Made(Tintype Gallery, London, 2013), One Hour(2P Contemporary Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 2011). His selected group exhibitions include: Frontier: Re-assessment of Post-Globalisational Politics(OCAT Institute, Beijing, 2018), Frontier: Re-assessment of Post-Globalisational Politics(OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai, Shanghai, 2017), So Far, So Right: A Study of Reforms and Transitions Across Borders(Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, 2017), Line of TIMES(MILL6 Foundation, Hong Kong, 2017), Time Test: International Video Art Research Exhibition (CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, 2016), Seoul Babel(Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, 2016), Imagine There’s No Country, Above Us Only Our Cities(Para Site, Hong Kong, 2015), Essential Matters(Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, 2015), The 8th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale(OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 2014), “Art Basel Hong Kong 2014 Encounters”( Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, 2014), 18th Videobrasil( SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo, 2013), Move On Asia – Video Art in Asia 2002 to 2012(Media Museum ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013), No Soul for Sale(Tate Modern, London, 2010). At same time, Morgan Wong also writes articles for Artform.com, Artforum(CN) and Art Review Asia.