An exhibition entitled “Unreturned Wanderer?” by artist Leong Chi Mou at the Macau Art For All Society (AFA) gallery is part of the latter’s “Urban Identity – New Immigrants Artists” series this year, according to a statement by curator Lei Lai.

According to the statement, Leong Chi Hou is the original name of the artist who uses Chi Mou as his pseudonym. Leong was born in 1991 in Jiangmen, a city some 65 kilometres north-west of Macau, and moved to the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) after 1999. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in 2015 with a major in oil painting from the School of Arts of the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM). He has been participating in solo and group exhibitions since 2008 in different places such as Macau, Hong Kong, the mainland and Japan.

The statement points out that Leong’s creative process for his work is based on transplanting contexts of images, explaining the reasonability of the ambiguous interpretations within a specific statement in a certain context and the appropriateness of misplaced identity.

According to the statement, Leong is “a person with a story, and the story leads to creation”.

“His first motivation for using images to discuss and narrate is the dilemma when he desires to integrate into the mainstream values of the consumer society: On one hand is his desire to get along with his friends who are moving further and further [away], yet he cannot accept the individual’s alienation that the pan-capitalisation society is bringing about. On the other hand is the extravagant desire to maintain independent values.”

Leong’s creative process is an experience of painting and decorating the surface of a gold watch, leading to paintings called “Kun” – his recognition of the social decency showed-off by the gold watch is an admission ticket that he can hold on, and the content of the picture also uses factors that are popular in the current society (auspicious ornamental fish, canned food representing the breath of consumer daily life and the eye of Horus representing the mysterious), according to the statement.

Kun (鯤) is an enormous legendary fish, which could change into a rock.

The language of expressions also adopts the techniques that are popular in the contemporary art industry (dislocation, collage, paintings made on an easel yet beyond the rules of the rectangular shape, marked as “Made in Macau”), the statement notes.

“Then Leong mournfully named the painting “Kun” – which suggests an unbearable spirit of humiliation. This work has repeatedly led to mild criticisms and adopted a tense state of mind that both opposes and agrees, so that the reserved paraphrase dimension is no longer inappropriate. In this way, viewers are led to a space where they can judge by themselves and are free to extract any imaginations they need from the creation,” the statement underlines.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC).

The title “Unreturned Wanderer?” reflects a message from the artist as a new immigrant to Macau who does not plan to return to where he was before, and he describes himself as a “wanderer?” with a question mark for the audience to explore further by themselves, Leong told The Macau Post Daily last night.

The exhibition runs until September 30 at AFA Macau on the first-floor gallery of Tak Chun Macau Art Garden at 265, Avenida do Dr. Rodrigo Rodrigues. It is open daily (except Sundays and public holidays) from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.

As part of the Macau government’s COVID-19 epidemic prevention measures, all visitors entering the venue are required to wear a facemask.

For enquiries, call 2836 6064 or visit the website www.afamacau.com.

Photos: Camy Tam