An event entitled “Macau Artist Lai Sio Kit Work Exhibition” (澳門藝術家黎小傑作品展) is being held at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex, in conjunction with the 13th Cultural Week of China-Portuguese-Speaking Countries, until this Sunday.
An exhibition brochure quoted Lai in a previous interview as saying that a forest he visited had “impacted” him. Thus, the feeling between perspiration and rain on his skin was “vividly” portrayed as wetness and gloom in his monochrome paintings.
The brochure does not identify which forest he visited.
The event is organised by the Permanent Secretariat to the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau).
A series of exhibitions, themed “Lusophone Polychromies” (葡光十色), by artists from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor and Macau, started to be presented to the public last June at the complex.
According to the brochure, Lai’s landscape collection selects hues that are close to black and white, adding that his waterfall paintings use “silk texture” on the waterfalls which contrast with the black rocks on both sides of the cascade.
Monochrome generates a more realistic wetness in some of Lai’s forest paintings, the brochure points out, adding that Lai uses “high-key” bright hues, akin to Luc Tuymans’ fine-toned, white shades, in painting streams.
Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people’s relationship with history. World War II is a recurring theme in his work
Lai is a full-time artist and curator living in Macau. He graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, majoring in Oil Painting, with a bachelor’s and master’s degree. His works have been exhibited in Macau, the mainland, Portugal, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong for many times, and he has held 19 solo exhibitions.
The exhibition runs until Sunday at the complex in Rua Sul de Entre Lagos near Macau Tower. Admission is free.
For enquiries, visit https://semanacultural.forumchinaplp.org.mo/.
Photos: Camy Tam and Ula Cheang
