Sisi Wong’s solo exhibition organized by the Macau Art For All Society is part of the “New Generation．New Media” - Art Exhibition Series. Sisi Wong was born in Macao and moved to Taiwan when her childhood. And she obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in Fine Art Department from the National Taiwan University of Arts, majoring in mixed media. She now lives in Macau and engages in visual art education.

 

 

"Light" is the first element of God's creation, and therefore the first element of the creation and regeneration of the universe. Light is also the basic condition of vision, so it is closely related to visual art as well. Only with light can form, colour, light and dark tones, and shadows change. Therefore, artists either use light as the theme of representation, usually filled with symbolism; or as creative materials, spanning paintings, sculptures, images, installations and various new media. Light has traveled from the radiant Sun God in ancient civilisation, to the luminous gold leaf behind the medieval icon, and the mosaics and stained glass windows in the church; to the chiaroscuro techniques of the Renaissance and Baroque, to the impressionism of modern art, the Chromatics, cubism - futurism, etc.. Finally, with the invention of photography, film, video and other media, and with the dematerialisation of contemporary art works, the "light and space" movement was launched, taking light as a creative element that is realistic but difficult to capture, as materials to trigger a brand new sensory experience for the audience. The "Light" that crosses over the tangible and the intangible, the reality and the illusion, the rational and the sensual, and is rich in symbolic meaning, has inspired countless artists in all generations

 

 

Sisi Wong has been committed to photography, video art and video installations for a long time. The solo exhibition "Into The Light" was started by the work "Pantheon" shot in Rome, which shows that she is trying to express herself while looking back to the art history of light by taking the physical and mental inspiration from this majestic historical building. The entire work focuses on the "oculus" (Latin for "eye") on the huge dome, which is the only light source of the entire building, like the eye of God, which clearly declares the sacredness of light and its connection with vision. On the whole, the 13 works clearly point out the artist's thinking process on the theme, taking into account the two routes of light reproduction and light as a medium: whether it is the sparkling wave of the water, the ray of the morning sun, the silver lining behind the clouds or the flickering light of a lamp. Although the subjects Wong photographs are simple, they are by no means merely reproductions. She not only uses a great deal of digital photography technology to shoot special effects, but also uses giclée print, dynamic light boxes, video devices, projection lamps and other techniques to write, draw and display images through light. She also uses 3D laser engraving technology, combined with crystal, acrylic, wood, and wavy steel plates to create sculptures of light. Inside the "black box", simple images are combined with the deployment of light, movements, materials and space to transform into a colourful appearance of a whole, immersing the audience “into the light" to fully experience the form and meaning of different interpretations of light. Her artworks therefore oscillate between "written light" and "writing with light".

 

 

In fact, the "photography" that Sisi Wong is best at means "light" (photo) and "writing" (-graphy). Starting with Picasso’s photographer Gjon Mili, to James Turrell, Yann Kersalé, Veronica Janssens, Olafur Eliasson in the 21st century, and today’s popular Light Painting, people’s passion in writing with light remains unchanged. Although Wong’s works are not as exhilarating as the above-mentioned artists, they contain nonetheless the depth of thoughts in the ontology of the medium, and also exude a calm and poetic charm. Maybe, as she said, she was looking for the personal "aura" in the vocabulary of photography, and thanks to her simplicity, her works appear all the more touching.

 

 

 

Curator

Chen Kuang Yi

(Full-time Professor/Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts)