A Smiths record is playing on a black MacBook as we enter Roy Ng’s studio, where Yale MFA-trained sculptor and installation artist Adrian Wong is at work on his piece for the exhibition. The smell of sawdust hangs in the air. A sheet of paper with mathematic equations and detailed measurements sits on a table in the main work area. It is apparent that Wong’s latest endeavour is complex, and on a scale greater than any of his previous installations, including the multi-media piece Sang Yat Fai Lok (2008), a recreation of a live children’s television show that starred one of his great uncles.

Wong, who was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, takes a break from his preparations to chat. He has just returned to Hong Kong from Los Angeles, where he has been teaching sculpture and theory at UCLA, to execute this installation. “My practice has been really involved with exploring this place,” he says. “Even the work I’ve done that’s outside has had relations to Hong Kong.” The thread of Hong Kong and Chinese culture runs through his works like Tuhng Gwai Wan (Playing with Ghosts); Sak Gai (Chicken Kiss); and Hak She Wuih Tuhng Mau Jai (Triads with Kitten).

When asked about his early approach to sculpting, he replies, “I was really enamoured with objects. To be able to make a thing, as opposed to a representation of a thing, I found to be very appealing. The work that I tend to do is not so much abstract representational sculpture. I tend to make things as what they are. My first year in grad school, I spent a lot of time learning how to build boats.”

In recent years, Wong’s art practice has become more meticulously thought out, requiring greater resources and precise execution. For this show, he is embracing the opportunity to take a risk and attempt an ambitious project that exhausts the limits of his talent, skill, and research abilities.

The artists:
Tozer Pak Sheung-chuen
Lee Kit
Doris Wong
Leung Chi-wo
Adrian Wong
Nadim Abbas
Tsang Kin-wah