YY9 Gallery is pleased to present a joint exhibition by Hanison Lau Hok Shing and Jiwye To. With the theme of “Poetic Scene”, Hanison and Jiwye present new works of sculpture and painting featuring classical Chinese poetry. Chinese poems are the very expression of poets in search of artistic beauty. As simple as such, merely a few words embrace thoughtful meanings. Using classical Chinese poetry as the foundation of artistic creation, both of the artists aim to transform the Chinese literature into artworks that elicit the endless imaginings to the audience, hence revealing the outlook on life of modern Chinese people.

In his latest series of sculpture “New Poetry in Old Words”, Hanison Lau used wood and ready-made material to create a different visual imagery. And in this sculpture works, Lau added the element of new poetry to transform the characteristic of its concretization into pieces of poetry-like artworks, leaving room for the audiences to explore.

Jiwye To’s new work “Empty your mind” was inspired by the Texturing Techniques of traditional Chinese Landscape Painting, in which cloud and mountains always appear in this series of painting. With the use of minimal color and plenty of empty spaces, To aimed to present his audiences with the concept of emptiness. His paintings are full of the philosophy of Buddhism and Tao, making people free in mind.

In this exhibition which reflects the cross-pollination that happens between language and visual arts, the two artists aim to create visual responses to ancient Chinese poems in their way.