“Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of the inner and outer characteristics of visual arts in the context of narrative and form. The direction for criticism includes exploration relating to the art works themselves, their creative background or the social effects the works may create, and so on.”
Due to various factors, artists in Macao very rarely possess this kind of background, and it is even rarer to find an artist who has good knowledge of both art theory and creative skills. Over the past few years, Allen Wong has never attempted to conceal the possibility of a theoretical explanation of his art. Each effort represents the product of liberal thought; each step, from the initial formation of the idea to the final product, represents his devotion to art.
The name of this exhibition - Dragon Interceptions: Little Dragon Asking for Direction - was not accepted by the artist at first; Real Interception was the very first title given to this inspired series. But what does ‘real’ mean? Why is there an ‘interception’? The artist pondered such questions for countless days and nights.
At a gathering some two years ago, Allen brought with him a series of photographs he had recently created. The photographs show the corner of a classroom with a collection of old-fashioned school desks and chairs. The chairs were obviously arranged in an artistic manner; the backrests and cushions removed from their original positions and vertically inserted on the desks. Two of the students’ daily items were also violently torn for the sake of art. Within these fragments, the artist depicts in the form of oil paintings our familiar and easily recognisable symbol – Che Guevara in beret! This image has been disseminated to an even wider audience than that of Princess Diana or the Mona Lisa!
Allen subsequently created a similar series of works such as David and Luís Vaz de Camões. Apart from employing roughness as his visual element, he has placed stronger emphasis on the visual experience that his works are moving towards a blurred state, attempting to confuse the definitions of sculpture and painting, the two-dimensional and the 3-dimensional. This has resulted in more mature work by the artist. Apart from deconstructing the revolutionary Che Guevara, he has introduced symbols of the Renaissance and popular culture into his works as targets for criticism. All these are demonstrations of his desire to draw a clear line above prevailing conventions.
Producing art in a realistic manner, Allen was first acclaimed by art circles in 2005 during the New Art People Project 2005 exhibition organised by the Old Ladies’ House Art Space. Today, following seven long years of introspection and accumulated experience, the artist has alighted on the exhibition entitled Dragon Interceptions: Little Dragon Asking for Direction. An attempt to imitate Damien Hirst’s deconstruction process, the artist blurs the four individual elements of two-dimensions and three-dimensions, with the static and dynamic contrasting a pure blue background, plus integrating all these things with the appearance of contemporary Chinese martial arts master Bruce Lee.
Be it deconstruction or reconstruction, the artist is determined to once again represent a real interception of the prevailing two-dimensional and three-dimensional visual world.
