Ora-Ora presents a solo exhibition by Hong Kong artist Cheung Hing Yee, titled “Erasing Time,” where the artist explores the state of “in-betweenness,” concretely depicting the permanent uncertainty in life and integrating life into the transient and impermanent.
Cheung Hing-yi cleverly borrowed the Chinese proverb “crossing the river by feeling the stones” to find a way between the past and the present, between her hometown and other places she has lived, between the opposition of history and reality, that is, “mediation.” Her artistic works are in a state of movement, not staying at any extreme, blending time and place, creating a new artistic expression and artistic concept.
Cheung Hing-yi uses a unique artistic expression to depict ordinary items that can be found everywhere. The work “Erasing News: Flash of Lightning” is created by erasing 600 erasers on British newspapers published from December 2021 to March 2022. The act of erasing newspapers involves transferring ink from the latter to the former. This process is a transformation for both main objects, simultaneously undergoing material addition and subtraction as well as medium conversion.
The eraser initially had the impermeability of stone or marble, gradually revealing its softness and inherent flaws upon contact over time. Cheung Hing-yee responded to the urgency of the entire political news field with a simple act of erasure, preserving and eliminating the news at the same time. Just as urging people to remain calm in an irresistible situation, she reduces the impact of textual information through intervention, while elevating its importance as an object of artistic scrutiny.
As a response to British publications, Fiona Cheung’s work “Erasing News: Sustainable Colors,” created in 2022, is composed of ink wiped from Hong Kong newspapers. This piece was completed by the artist upon returning to her hometown city, bringing a fresh energy, reevaluating, and inspiring a new era of creativity.
In addition, some works are directly drawn on erasers with ballpoint pen strokes. These works utilize the unique material properties of the eraser surface to dissolve the ink of the ballpoint pen and transform it into new colors for presentation. When using red, it will present the shimmering light in the sky at sunrise or sunset in London; black turns into blue, reminiscent of the Chinese design style still popular in British pottery.
Cheung Hing-yi: “Time Wipe”
Date: From now until September 18
Time: 10 am to 7 pm (Monday to Friday); 11 am to 7 pm (weekends)
Location: Ora-Ora, 105-107, 3/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
Image source and learn more: Ora-Ora
