When artist meets artists. It is when a bright collaborative project evolves.

Hephaistion + Saffie

Hephaistion + Saffie are two artists, who share a particular view on life that allows them to express their emotions as one. In the year 2007, they discovered this collaborative potential while creating a customized textile pattern for an interior feature wall, for a humble Kings Cross Café in Sydney.

In this “birth” acrylic on canvas series, the duo explore the ideas of creation and inquiry into; the first moment of nothingness and the historic processes that begin to form and solidify our understanding of life and its society. The choice of acrylic on canvas in this series was due to the mediums ability to instantaneously capture seconds of beauty that was evident in the way one pigment is forged within the pigment of it neighboring. The attraction to this series was due to a high level of communication and understanding between the two artists while simultaneously working on a single canvas. Once complete, the final outcome offers a clear window into the soul of the artists and the audience. Immediately it stimulates a subliminal dialogue that opens the social setting to very insightful conversations. Both artists were taught a very Bauhaus form of color theory and were instructed the best color combinations, yet while in practice the artists discovered many grey and murky worlds of combinations that resulted from taboo adaptations of the individual personalities of pigments.  These two artists have no favorite colors, but embrace any opportunity they may encounter to mix and explore, the unpredictable satisfaction found in, amalgamating and applying the produced pigments and swatches.

The duo’s artwork focuses on inspiring people to accept alternative perspectives, over the subject matter of opportunity and self awareness. Just as a discourse is learnt and possible careers are developed, our mission is to communicate the freedom of expression and thought.

Eileen Chan

Eileen Chan’s installation and sculpture art pieces “Message of the Bottle” & “Bottles Up”, both investigate the notion of self -awareness. Through the soliloquy of the bottle, the artist expresses the senses of conflict moral issues when dealing with ecological and social context. The bottle opens a dialogue of awareness people at large in eco-art.

"My immersion in art began with ink and brush.The journey began in 1997. I had my first true glimpses into Chinese ink and brush paintings. At the heart of the genre are intricate, pensive lines, while the brush spreads and brings ink to life. The fascination sets off my quest for the Eastern philosophy and poetry behind the art.
My Western upbringing deepens my musings on Eastern culture. The mix of East and West adds unique elements to my artistic creations, as I seek constant breakthrough in my subjects and forms.

In the search for new paths I found my love: Bottle art, the painting on wine bottles or utilizing bottles as installation. The inspiration hit me at a dinner with friends. What was left in the empty glasses and bottles when we were gone—the lingering taste of wine, or our hopes and memories, our tears and laughter? Those scattered moments echoed in my mind, like my sighs over the abandoned bottles and the end that came too soon.

At a moment of revelation I saw the truth—of my love for art, friendship and life. From then on I forsook brush and paper for wine bottles, on which I paint my most intense yet slippery emotions. My bottle art is a recapturing of such love. The memories of life resound and carry on to the future, just as the finesse of wine is preserved.
The story of the bottle is the story of every you and me."

--- Eileen Chan



Letter from the Bottle to Hong Kong People


My glamorous outfit does not add to my substance. Nor does it disguise the sigh or helplessness in my soul.

In a heartbeat I fall from the top shelve at the privileged counter in the garbage. From the twilight of social world I am removed and transposed to the landfills.

The tinkling music of the glasses fades with the crowd. It leaves me solitary with my whisper under the moon.

Do I have no value to the recycler? There are homes for my peers—blue box for waste paper, yellow box for cans and brown box for plastic bottles—but no refuge for me.

Do I have no use to anybody? Why will you not allow me make my contribution to the society before sending me to the landfills?

Am I not worth your attention? Or are you too comfortable where you are to think of a means of recycling for me, so I can be reborn in a new life?

Please give me an answer before I become disillusioned with this society.


Yours truly
The Bottle