Local artist Ieong Sok I has prepared an exhibition titled “Not a Bed of Roses- Contemporary Ceramics” at the 10 Fantasia gallery.
The exhibition, according to a 10Fantasia statement, is divided into three categories: Captivity, Popple, and Multiplication Table. The statement pointed out that the works are related in terms of “formal language and spiritual expression, which reflects the constancy, inevitability and normalisation of life”.
Captivity, the statement noted, indicates that people under pressure are burdened by frameworks referred to as “school, work and family” into “helpless squares with edges and corners”.
Popple adopts the “moulding technique by pulling blanks” and simulates leaves curling after they have fallen and the multiple holes eaten by insects, while the clay is still in a soft state. The statement added that Popple “reveals that every leaf is destined to slowly decline from the moment it falls from the tree”.
Multiplication Table is named after the mathematical table and is also referred to as “The Song of Jiu Yin”. The statement said that each piece is made of clay sheets which are blended into “singular and plural forms”, referring to one’s daily work’s state, which the statement said is similar to reciting the multiplication table as it is “full of mechanical repetition”.
Ieong was born in Macau in 1989 and received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) in 2012 and a master’s degree in Ceramics and Crafts from the China Academy of Art in 2017, according to the statement. She also founded “Yitao Handmade” in 2019.
The statement pointed out that her series of works, collectively titled Captivity, was exhibited at the 2017 Asian Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition in Aichi Prefecture in Japan and the 2017 Macao AFA Autumn Salon.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation in Macau, the exhibition has been postponed and the gallery is closed until further notice.
These undated handout photos provided by 10 Fantasia show the exhibits of the currently suspended “Not a Bed of Roses- Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition”.
