Group Exhibition
Unit Gallery, L5-23 JCCAC, 30 Pak Tin Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Exhibition Period: 14-29 April, 2018 (Sat & Sun)
Exhibition statement
The concept for this exhibition, ‘One Kilo’ was sparked by an experimental assignment given to five emerging ceramic practitioners whilst undertaking their first year of studies (BA in Fine Art) at Hong Kong Art School. One kilogram of malleable clay was given to each artist. They were encouraged to explore it, to challenge their existing perception of clay, and to discover extreme possibilities away from conventional clay-making. They all started from the same point for this exhibition yet arrived at very different and creative results.
Clay is the major material for ceramic art. Clay may have a heavier visual weight than physical weight or vice versa. Clay is a unique material as compared to other materials; it gains or loses weight depending on the moisture enclosed as well as the firing processes it undergoes. So when is the correct time to determine the weight of a piece of clay? Or, is the more important issue actually beyond the weight?
Using ‘weight’ as the ignition point for this exhibition, the concept of ‘One Kilo’ has travelled beyond the obvious. With imagination and exploration these ceramic artists have enhanced their own practice and created work that is meaningful and memorable.
Weighty Propositions
One kilogram cannot be seen. We can see one metre and estimate it with relatively accuracy, but a kilogram – a measure of the mass of an object – needs to be felt and can easily deceive.
Since 1889, the International Prototype Kilogram (IPK), a platinum-indium alloy cylinder with a diameter and height of only 39.17mm that is stored at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris has defined a kilogram. By contrast the original definition of a kilogram in 1795, was a litre of water, which requires a cylinder almost over 21 times larger in volume and having a diameter and height of 108.39mm.
Through balancing near-identical forms precariously upon each other Weighty Propositions plays with this sense that weight cannot be seen to mislead the viewer.
