Fondant art master Zhou Yi, also known as China’s “Sugar King”, and gaming resort operator MGM are presenting the Fondant Art Exhibition at MGM COTAI, with the opening ceremony held at the property’s Spectacle area yesterday.
According to a statement distributed during the opening ceremony, the permanent exhibition is Zhou’s first solo art exhibition and was co-created by MGM. It aims to promote traditional Chinese culture and dough-sculpture, a traditional Chinese craft that is also an intangible cultural heritage.
Zhou combines dough with fondant art, a Western art medium, to create Chinese style doll figures. Aside from food crafting techniques, art techniques like spray painting were also used in creating the exhibits.
Exclusively created for MGM and Macau, it features five life-sized fondant art sculptures that are over two-metres in height. They are themed around the classics of Chinese culture such as “Three Books and Six Rituals”, and the Lignan region’s folk culture such as “Lion Dance”.
MGM China Holdings Limited Co-chairperson and Executive Director Pansy Ho Chiu-king said by video link that her company was thrilled to be collaborating with Zhou. “MGM and his team have spent a year putting together this cutting-edge exhibition, which rejuvenates Chinese traditional culture by presenting traditional festivity, etiquette and livelihoods in a contemporary manner and infusing the influence of ‘guochao’, the ‘national culture’, to merge art into life”, Ho said.
The term “guochao” (国潮) can also be translated as “national trend”, “national wave” or “national tide”, referring to the rising tide of products that incorporate elements of traditional Chinese culture and style, refreshed with a modern twist
Zhou learnt Chinese sculpture and dough sculpture from masters of the field and later taught himself fondant art. His major achievements include winning four gold medals, one gold first prize and one gold second prize at Cake International in 2019 and being an Awardee for National Culture Inheritance in 2022
Fondant is a thick paste made of sugar and water and often flavoured or coloured, used in the making of sweets and the icing and decoration of cakes.
Zhou noted in his speech at the opening ceremony that the exhibition took more than a year to perfect, with challenges overcome and countless ideas exchanged during the process. He said he hoped to showcase traditional Chinese culture to a wider audience through the artwork’s themes. “I also believe that Chinese culture needs to be seen and recognised in order to realise the rejuvenation of our nation”, Zhou said.
Fondant art master Zhou Yi addresses yesterday’s opening ceremony at MGM COTAI.
Photos taken at MGM Cotai yesterday by Rui Pastorin.
