At the 10 Fantasia gallery on Calçada da Igreja de S. Lázaro (瘋堂斜巷), a solo exhibition by Macau artist Sophie Leong takes exhibitiongoers through a world of art with layered meanings.
Introducing the Macau-born artist’s art style, a recent statement from the gallery said that her work combines dark, opulent, and fantasy themes while incorporating mixed-media, adding that they integrate storytelling with cultural symbolism.
For this exhibition, aptly titled “Sophie’s Adventures in Wonderland”, visitors to 10 Fantasia’s “Youth Artist Exhibition Room” in the basement are invited on a journey between reality and imagination across three sections. These are namely the “Love Poetry Series”, the “Demonic Temptation Series”, and the “Story Series”.
The “Love Poetry Series” sees works created through mixed media, among which are roses, tulle, lace and mesh, with a statement at the gallery noting that the items can be worn as brooches. According to the statement, the use of mixed media represents elements of love including purity, fragility, seduction and constraint, while being able to wear the pieces as brooches signifies “intimacy and the internalisation of love”.
Paintings and art books meanwhile take centre stage in the “The Demonic Temptation Series”, visualising what the statement calls “moments of moral seduction through seven demons representing seven deadly sins”.
The list of Christianity’s seven deadly sins comprises pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed.
The statement said that beauty masks the demons’ true nature, confronting viewers with desire and inner darkness.
The last of the sections, the “Story Series”, meanwhile takes inspiration from religion, fairy tales, films and social issues.
Introducing the artist, Leong, the director of the 1874 Gallery in China’s Taiwan region, is described by the statement as having a practice that “bridges academic research and artistic creation”, highlighting her academic career and qualifications, which includes a Ph.D. in Design from Tatung University in Taiwan.
She has presented papers at international platforms, while her works have been exhibited in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, London, Macau, Shanghai, Taipei, and Venice, according to the statement.
The exhibition is organised by the Macau Youth Art Association and is on through June 27. Throughout the remainder of the exhibition period, members of the public may view the pieces on show from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from Tuesdays to Sundays. It is closed on Mondays.
– Photos: Rui Pastorin
