While the first Tasting Hong Kong exhibition visualized and conceptualized the ideas of food in Hong Kong with a stunning combination of visual enchantment, the second Tasting Hong Kong exhibition focuses more on physically sensual elements of our lives: games and amusement. Here, six artists with very different interpretation of what recreation and game mean have presented a wide range of fun and entertaining artworks.
A game can be as simple as whispering a secret message to a friend or blowing soap bubbles in the air as conveyed in LEUNG Ching-man, Castaly's Secret Telling and Buoyantly. Or a game means a sophisticated virtual reality game as expressed by WONG Chun Hei, Stephen's series of paintings depicting the scenes from video games.
Other artists like TANG Siu Nam and the duo, LEE Ting Wai and YIP Pak To have taken a more nostalgic approach to play by revisiting our childhood toys and games. TANG Siu Nam's TRANSPAPERS - WILD RANGER reflects the yesteryears, when a toy is more than a play-thing, but untamed imaginative luxury. LEE Ting Wai and YIP Pak To's artwork, You Jump I Jump, is an interactive twist on the very traditional analog game of hopscotch which will make the audience to revisit their childhood. And the audience will no doubt ponder on the notion of how a simple game can deliver the meaning of social interaction.
LI Tin Lun's selection of works, Draw Your Tactics, 3 Teams One Match, Winning "7-Eleven" is a playful approach to rethink a game we all know so well. However, by actually touching and playing, the audience will realize there is more than meets the eyes. Actually, it is more complex and difficult than it appears.".
Unlike a more "traditional" work of art, contemporary art urges the audience to take part, sometimes emotionally and quite often physically. Playing means interaction whether with each other or with the work itself. And through this social interaction, real communication emerges into profound understanding.