SHANGHAI WESTBUND ART & DESIGN FAIR 2024

Hong Kong artists Placid - Louise Chow (b. 1989, painter) and Chen Lok Yan (b. 1989, sculptor) create as a duo, they both graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a master's degree in architecture. The placid and restraint nature of their sculptures contrasts with the vigorous nature of their paintings, together, they explore the complexity of individual identity. To them, sculpting is the act of rational control, while painting is the act of emotional liberation.

 

Combining their experience working with 3D, architectural and interior designs, and furniture making, they express the journey of life using unique sculpting methods. In their sculptures, dents and edges are sanded away, but traces involved in the process are kept and revealed as unique textures relating to the notions of memories and inherence.

In their paintings, they depict the essence inside the bare envelop, and address the subtle differences perspectives create. The artists try to peek into the inner world of the characters, exploring the emotional differences of a face perceived from different angles inside the head, thereby expressing the complexity of people's feelings and emotions. The paintings open alternative possibilities from the prototypes of the sculptures, giving them stories and life under rich imagination.

 

Their sculptures are intentionally grey, the most neutral and static colour, free-flowing energy permeates in their paintings. Vibrant and sometimes fluorescent colours are paired with shades of grey throughout Placid’s works. The juxtapositions of fluidity and stillness, saturation and paleness, instil a suppressed atmosphere and give their paintings a calming presence.