Osage Soho Until Nov 21

Unreservedly baring all for the Old Bailey pedestrians to see, the massive French window panels of Osage Soho are as welcoming as they are detrimental to the sense of integrity in the gallery space. Only a simple sweeping glance is needed before backing out from the front door; there is neither room for surprises nor a sense of arrival, which is essential to an exhibition experience. It surely feels like a pleasant accident that the raised window sill does actually play to an advantage at Elsewhere, a joint exhibition by Hong Kong artists Au Hoi-lam and Sara Tse – drawing the viewers’ eyes to an array of odd objects placed across it and immediately evoking our curiosity. A small size suitcase, in particular, hints to a whimsical journey that is yet to be embarked upon.

The exhibition itself embodies the idea of an unconventional voyage across time, space and personal histories; the artworks are mementos from the artists’ sojourns. The overall mood of the show is sentimentally charged – the works are strongly suggestive of private memories, even if neither artist has shed light on the specific details of their experiences. Through obsessive counting of days (Day), months (Full Moon), and years (1978-2011), Au’s incorporation of numbers within her work reveals a strong urge to create order from chaos. Her works function as receivers and emitters of emotions, while betraying few secrets of the artist.

Tse’s works, by contrast, deal with the past in a considerably different manner, choosing instead to try and capture time in delicate porcelain encrusted memorials. The act of incinerating objects may seem rather violent, but the porcelain shells that remain, while offering a sense of poetic destruction, represent physical impressions of what the objects once were. Her work Dress is easily the most visually impressive work in the exhibition: not only are the porcelain tiles laid across a large glass pane that looms from the ceiling, but the clever use of lighting also casts a gentle shadow across the blank neighbouring wall. If Dress is interpreted as a physical manifestation of Tse’s memories, then one wonders if these memories, casting their own shadows, are but an illusion of reality – as if we’re in Plato’s cave.

The work From Here may be considered the most representative work of the show – not just because it inscribes the exhibition title but, more interestingly, its cross structure seems to symbolise direction, navigation and the cross-point where Tse and Au have met and, for the duration of this exhibition, have become travel companions. It is a small regret that Elsewhere seems to have put most of its focus on highlighting the similarities between the two artists – rather than their differences. One could only hope there was a more dynamic dialogue between the two.

Cerine Liu