Oui.Gallery HK Introduces Art & Performances by Frank Lee & Kwan Q Li on November 20
Hong Kong — Thursday, November 7, 2019 — Oui.Gallery is based in Hong Kong during months of protest and conflict. Artists producing work respond to the environment. Oui.Gallery Hong Kong announced the opening of Subsumption, an art show and performance featuring artist Frank Lee and Kwan Q Li. Six separate series of works will be on display. Frank Lee’s intricate broken porcelain reassembled in the table-set Rendering Compliance and furthered in her series, Faithful Phoenix, Holy Hymen, The Last Grain and Heirlooms. And, Kwan Q Li’s “Feel Good Flesh Zero” is a mixed-media installation whereby participants are encouraged to drink her specially designed mocktails. There is a press preview with artist talk from 5:30-7pm on Wednesday, November 20 followed by an invite-only limited seat opening from 6-8pm at Oui.Gallery Hong Kong.
Frank Lee writes:
Frank Lee is a fictitious artist name. They or them asks that no one takes their photograph. As a feminist artist, their work often echoes their emotional interpretation of history and the human condition in reshaping everyday objects. Their artworks have a particular focus on the social identity of female which looks at how the unwritten etiquette of submission and masked feelings that we learn through life are echoed and construct all areas of society. Frank used to be an actor and set designer. They have the belief that each object is not only put on stage to frame the environment of the story in time and space, but also to communicate these multiple veneers, the protagonist’s journey. This is also the perspective that Frank explores in their artworks which are without the restrictions of the story of plays, narrativizing a new “story” that is more delicate and sentimental. The way those porcelains are repaired by soft string reflects vulnerability and flexibility in where there once only was hardness. Echoed in every being in this epoch, there are hints of healing amongst all that is broken.
“Feel Good Flesh Zero” is Kwan Q Li’s response to Frank Lee’s Victorian-staged ‘Render Compliance’, Kwan Q Li, a Hong Kong-based artist and writer, has specifically designed an opening reception that takes the form of a fusion pharmacy.
“Circular gold frames irradiate at the end of the room, presenting a unique menu of mocktails that are bound to lure you with their guilt-free recipes. 219 Enzyme+, Chlorella tablets, Organic Womankind Tea, fresh lime slices… all promise not to disappoint,” said Kwan Q Li about her work. “Lip, Sip, Suck. The audience is instructed to appropriate the tacky drinking gesture into a gathering ritual, mirroring the almost religious reconciliation epitomized by Frank’s soft strings threaded through porcelain fragments.”
Due to the special nature of Kwan Q Li’s concoctions, invited participates are encouraged to not drink alcohol prior to the opening as specific mocktail creations might have unknown interaction with alcohol.
Kwan Q Li continues:
Today we are in the post-diet world - the artist speculates - when atomised familial values are founded on fast food delivery and supplement pilgrimage. Conventional banquets may only find their remains of existence spiced with instrumental values - spectacular openings, performative networking, instagram-fed events. ‘Feel Good Flesh Zero’ mixes a spoonful of contemporaneity into Frank’s historically-rooted interrogation of subjugation and sexuality, stirring up temporalities within a space in which the compliance of social protocol is further stretched.
Kwan Q Li concludes, “Conventional banquets may only find their remains of existence spiced with instrumental values – spectacular openings, performative networking, instagram-fed events. Kwan Q Li’s ‘Feel Good Flesh Zero’ mixes a spoonful of contemporaneity into Frank’s historically-rooted interrogation of subjugation and sexuality, stirring up temporalities within a space in which the compliance of social protocol is further stretched.”
For more information
- Press Preview & VIP Artist Talk, Wednesday, November 20, 5:30-7pm
- Private Invite-Only Opening, Wednesday, November 20, 7-9pm
- Exhibition Details
- Fliers
About Frank Lee
Frank Lee is a fictitous name of an artist. They are a sculptor from Gräs ö, Sweden. They studied at Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, receiving both a BA and first Honours in set and costume design. They were forced to give up their design career due to health reasons. They live and work in Hong Kong.
About Kwan Q Li
Currently based in Hong Kong, Kwan Q Li is perhaps most dedicated in crafting performance-based situations coalesced with writing, presentation and installation, and recently delivered performance lectures at various institutions including the University of Cambridge and the University of Hong Kong. Her research-based practice explores post-colonial intricacies and ideological alternatives within the neoliberal context. In 2019, her collaborative writing will be featured in the publication of UABB, Shenzhen. Queenie holds a Fine Art degree from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford and a B.B.A. in Global Business Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
About Oui.Gallery
Oui.Gallery is an international contemporary art gallery featuring emerging artists and making innovative shows in Hong Kong and Saint Louis.
Oui.Gallery Hong Kong
1009 Yu Yuet Lai Building
43-55 Wyndham St
Central, Hong Kong
Press Contact
- Press & Inquiries: [email protected]
###