10 Chancery Lane Gallery is proud to present the third solo exhibition of Hong Kong Australian artist John Young Zerunge, The Macau Days. The exhibition presents a constellation of ideas and stories surrounding old Macau and its rich trans-cultural history as the oldest European settlement in Asia. Young's works pay homage to the flight out, and to those historical figures – from Wenceslau de Moraes to Wu Li – who gave their lives to the great transformation, and their days spent in Macau.
As Young puts it, “This is an homage to the flight out, for all those whose lives were lived transformations- Wenceslau de Moraes who left Portugal, sojourned in Macau and spent the rest of his years in Tokushima, but introduced to the West the first Haiku. A-ma was and still is the guardian goddess of seafarers in Macau, yet she drowned in saving others, so the story goes. Guiseppe Castiglione, who brought to China tromp l'oeil, perspectival rendering in painting, conceived and built the ‘Western Mansions’ or the ‘Chinese Versailles’ at Yuan Ming Yuan - who left Italy, travelled via Goa to stay in Macau to master Chinese, then to Beijing, never to see Milan again. Or Wu Li the poet who dedicated his times at St. Paul's to understand the western spirit. For more than five centuries, the days spent in Macau have inspired and nourished those on the bird's path, the flight out, those who have given their lives to the great transformation. This exhibition is for those people, and their days spent, in Macau.” (Winter 2012)
John Young Zerunge (b. Hong Kong, 1956) moved to Australia in 1967. He has exhibited extensively with his works being shown in major exhibitions both nationally and internationally, at institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and museums and institutions in North America, Europe, North and South East Asia.
Young has had more than 60 solo exhibitions and over 160 group exhibitions, beginning with his first solo exhibition held at Rosroe, Connemara, Ireland. In 2005-06 a survey of his work entitled Orient/Occident: John Young 1978-2005 was exhibited at the TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria. Two separate monographs have been written on John Young's works and projects by Dr. Graham Coulter-Smith (1993, Schwartz City Publications) and Dr. Carolyn Barnes and William Wright AM (2005, Craftsman House, Thames & Hudson). Since the survey, Young has concentrated on projects that pay tribute to cross-cultural humanitarians. Young was awarded the Australia Council Visual Arts Fellowship to support the research and development of this area of his practice in 2012-2014.
The Macau Days is Young's third solo exhibition presented at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Hong Kong, following 1967Dispersion (2008) and Return, via new paths (2007).
