Arise from the absence of clouds; clear-air turbulence is a rare yet dangerous weather condition undetectable by radar or flesh eye. Such unpredictability is employed by Hong Kong artist Kwong Wing-Kwan as an analogy to the vulnerability of human-being in face of fate.

Our daily lives are filled with surprises and unpredictable events impossible to anticipate, thus unavoidable in nature. Inspired by destiny and fate, Kwong skillfully employed everyday events such as accidents and disasters to confront the audience on their vulnerability. In a series of canvases, Kwong presents an interior scene of a vehicle at the moment of impact. Using transfer technique and multiple image layering, the composition evokes a violent force shattered externally and internally. In the multi-media work Dentist Said My Teeth Had Cracked, Kwong presents an X-ray of her tooth with a lightning strikes mechanism within a small elongated box. As if peeping through a small opening, the audience is caught by a flash of light revealing the image of a tooth for only a split second. Such momentary image is both mysterious and enticing. It gives power and psychological tension. In It was Going Up, Kwong’s depicts herself in a lift with a torn cable just before it breaks. The tension of the breaking cable is juxtaposed by a rectangular composition which appears structurally stable. The artist is depicted as herself inside the lift, looking upward emotionless without any sign of panic. Her unusual calmness at the moment of hazarded encounter is both enigmatic and uncanny. She appears to accept fate without protest.

To the audience, the contradiction of emotions and psychological drama in Kwong’s works is at its extreme. The Catharsis invokes by such tragic events gives these works an unparallel power that penetrates deep into the beholder’s mind. Most important, they give these works a new definition of tragedy that is a paradoxical yet insightful reflection on life.

-Henry Au-yeung

Image: © Kwong Wing-Kwan, Grotto Fine Art