The latest group exhibition “New Identity” presented by Tang Contemporary Art Center features 7 participating artists engaging in artistic creation to initiate dialogues among themselves, connecting their individual identities and weaving them into a network. Just as Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am,” the artists seek and reveal their subjective identities through creation, existing because they create.
右：Manuel Ocampo 《鄰里 2（貓）》 布面油畫 137 x 107 cm 2022
Manuel Ocampo and Heri Dono, two participating art masters, speak critically about the world from an individual perspective. Manuel Ocampo’s work combines secular religious imagery and political narratives. He absorbs nutrients from art history, includes cartoon elements, and draws inspiration from punk subculture. The imagery in his work refers to metaphorically processed symbols of Western colonialism.
Heri Dono, on the other hand, takes a new path by combining the folk art characteristics of Indonesia with myths and Western visual art concepts. He attempts to blend traditional Indonesian drama, current events, political relationships, and other images to create a mysterious narrative: a duet of local culture and contemporary life.
Luis Lorenzana’s magnificent and symbolic painting style is a representation of his own view of reality. The artist is obsessed with the repetition of shapes and faces, as well as using watercolors on paper to achieve stylization and enhancement effects. He is also one of the first artists to naturally transition naturalistic themes into symbolic expressions, which is likely a precursor to his further progression towards abstract art and synthesis.
右：Niam Mawornkanong《心形》 布面丙烯 120 x 90 cm 2012
Niam Mawornkanong suspends his work in an eternal dimension, leading us into his dreams – a surreal world that exists only in his mind. In this space, glaciers, dehumanized alien lands, and animals come to us with ghostly ethereality. When we think we are gazing at them, we are actually being gazed at.
右：Oky Rey Monta 《紅酒時間》 布面丙烯 120 x 120 cm 2022
Oky Rey Monta also creates a dreamy and ethereal world. Over the years, he has brought popular cartoon characters to life, turning them into vibrant heroes and captivating stories. His narrative style and exquisite skills have evolved into a unique painting technique, summoning a Baroque elegance in cartoon form.
右：Jigger Cruz《聖漬》 布面油畫 78 x 63 cm 2022
Through the dense layers of oil and the entanglement of colors, Jigger Cruz achieves his disruptive reimagining of art. He deliberately distorts and disassembles familiar images in the background, making destructiveness a key component of his aesthetic concept. The dense colored lines under his brush decrypt new paths like whirlpools, breaking the established cultural norms.
“New Identity”
Date: From now until October 31, 2022 (Closed on Sundays and Mondays)
Time: 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Location: Contemporary Tang Art Centre, 10th Floor, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central
Image and information source: Tang Contemporary Art Center
