A painting exhibition entitled “Gleam Through Shade” by local artist Lai Sio Kit is being held at the UNESCO Centre of Macau.
The exhibition, which is sponsored by the Macau Foundation (FM), is part of the Macau Young Artists Programme which started in 2019.
According to a statement by the public foundation, the exhibition showcases nearly two dozen large-scale oil paintings by Lai Sio Kit who was born in Macau in 1983 and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Oil Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
Lai is a full-time artist and member of the Chinese Artists Association, vice-president of the Macau Artist Society, president of the Macau Youth Art Association, president of the Art for All Society, and president of the Macau Art Master Association. He is also guest lecturer at the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), City University of Macau and Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM).
Lai’s work has been displayed at 17 solo and over 100 national and international group exhibitions. Lai’s paintings can be found at the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Macau Museum of Art (MAM), Orient Foundation (FO), Bank of China (BOC) and private collections, according to the statement.
The statement pointed out that Lai has studied the subject of “city” for many years, using paintings and installations to explore the relationship between cities and people, and between cities and time. In the wake of his research on the subject for 10 years, Lai has held a number of exhibitions such as “The Story of a City”, “The Secret Garden”, “From Above” and “At the Point of Time”.
A sharing session was held on Sunday afternoon at the exhibition venue. Lai talked about his trip to Mt. Mitake in Tokyo in March 2016 which gave him inspiration to begin to shift the focus of his creations from “City” to “Forest”.
The current exhibition is an attempt to “plant” a forest complete with the recordings of birds singing in the main gallery to give visitors the impression that they are visiting a forest. Lai made it a point to keep a distance between the various forest paintings in order to create a quiet space. During Sunday's sharing session Lai also showed a number of floor tiles that were exhibited at different venues over the past four years. He told his audience that every floor tile is a record of his experience, and he pointed out that the different venues presented the works in different forms. Lai told The Macau Post Daily that he will continue to explore his creations “at his own pace and according to the situation”.
The exhibition runs until this coming Sunday in two halls at the UNESCO Centre of Macau in 403, Alameda Dr. Carlos d’Assumpçào in Nape daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.
As part of the government’s COVID-19 epidemic prevention measures, all visitors entering the venue must wear a facemask, have their temperature checked and present a digital health declaration.
For enquiries, call 28727066 or email to unesco_info@fm.org.mo.
Photos: Camy Tam
