Camy Tam
A joint exhibition entitled “Spiritual Sustenance” by Jia Shuyan (賈姝彥) and John Choi (蔡素雄) organised by the Chinese Cultural Industries Promotion Association (CCIPA) and sponsored by the public Macau Foundation (FM) in conjunction with 10 Fantasia and the St. Lazarus Church District Creative Industries Promotion Association, is being held at the gallery of 10 Fantasia.
According to a statement by the curator Meng Shu (孟舒), the exhibition displays 43 sketches depicting Macau by the two artists, comprising 23 oil sketches and quick sketches by Jia, and 20 water-colour sketches and pen sketches by Choi.
Meng is an assistant professor at the University of Macau’s Faculty of Humanities and Arts.
According to the statement, “Spiritual Sustenance” indicates a place where people can find sustenance, which is not only a spiritual pursuit of the present, but also a spiritual sustenance towards the future.
Sketching refers to a painting method which directly depicts real objects on the spot. It can be used to collect sketches for final artistic creations and meanwhile acts as a creation method, and a way of recording artistic experience, the statement pointed out.
Jia was born in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and lived in Beijing before she moved to Macau in 2019 to study for her PhD degree in Philosophy in Fine Arts at the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST). Her work has been collected by the National Art Museum of China and other institutions, and various national exhibitions, including the Third National Youth Art Exhibition and Works Exhibition of Chinese Female Artists, according to the statement.
Choi is a local artist who is passionate about art and deeply enjoys the process of painting. He has engaged for a long time in water-colour sketching and pen sketching, according to Meng.
Meng moved from Shanghai to Macau in 2008 to work at MUST as an art and design teacher, according to the statement.
According to the statement, the different perspectives of the artists and curator as “passer-by” (Jia), and “hometowner” (Choi) and “visitor” (Meng) constitute the specific exhibition’s “dialogue”. Creating art by sketching, Jia and Choi fix their gaze on Macau’s landscape and conduct self-inspection, showing their comprehensive perception of the city, according to the statement.
The exhibition runs until January 26 in two halls – A02 and C01 – at 10 Fantasia, which opens daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (closed on Mondays) at 10, Calçada da Igreja de S. Lázaro. Admission is free.
Visitors are required to wear a facemask and apply hand sanitiser when entering the gallery.
Photos: Camy Tam
