Exhibition “Transience, Vicissitudes” will be held on 8-16 January, 2011 at Atelier MagsBeaud, Fotan in Shatin featuring works by two artists, Dr. Steven Woon-Cheong Lam and Ms Daphne Alexis Ho. Through painting, printmaking and photography, these two artists explore one’s feeling of helplessness over the passage of time, the impermanence and sense of detachment in human relationships, and the vicissitudes in present-day life.

The human face has been the theme of Steven Woon-Cheong Lam’s artworks, which integrate elements of painting, print-making, and digital imaging techniques. Alluding to an undertone of Chinese poetry, his works portray the progressive attrition of individual identity, the inconsequentiality and feeble nature of emotional linkage, and the impermanence of human relationships in our time.

The photos of abandoned spaces by Daphne Alexis Ho capture the traces left behind by previous inhabitants. Melancholic beauty is intertwined with a sense of loss and reminiscence. To Daphne, the desertion and abandonment symbolize our impermanence on earth, as well as our vulnerability towards time passing.

With Steven focusing on ‘self’ and Daphne on the ‘environ’, through different artistic media and languages, the works of both artists remind the viewers of our minuteness in the universe. One is questioned on one’s role in the passage of time, and also the meanings of life and being.

“Before decay’s effacing fingers have swept the lines where beauty lingers” – Byron