Art Experience Foundation will present its inaugural exhibition “Full & Emptiness”, by M.C after its inception. Art Experience Foundation is pleased to extend a cordial invitation to everyone in the community to come and share the artist’s inquiry into the meaning of happiness in today’s consumerist society, which he achieves, through the lens of his camera, by exposing the mixed emotions of obscurity and awakening behind the colors and joy of theme parks. Inside any theme park, visitors are guided to feel happy, excited and satisfied by its joyful scenes and settings. Yet, when the curtain is down, an inconcealable inner feeling of emptiness and confusion arises. The artist doubts the realness of such “happiness”, which indeed is part of the well thought-through settings of theme parks. Through his works, M.C raises the question, “Should happiness be an inner satisfaction that does not depend on the circumstances?” Full & Emptiness conveys reflections on the way to seek happiness in a world overwhelmed by consumerism. And, Full & Emptiness will incorporate a variety of sensory elements and accessible exhibition designs for some of the works, for example, using large font for descriptions and providing audio guided tours recorded by the artist, serving the needs of people from different walks of life so that more people will be able to comprehend the depth of M.C.’s photographic works and share his creative journey that lasted three years.

About the exhibition:

During the creative journey that lasted several years, the artist visited a theme park for numerous times. In his first few visits, he felt excited, happy and fulfilled; as time went by, however, he was gradually aware of an unexplained sense of void in his heart each time he left the park. In this process, the artist’s perspectives were transformed from that of a visitor to a cool-headed observer, and through his lens, he captured that state in which countless visitors became unconsciously lost in fantasy while seeking happiness in the venue. He observed his own inner emotional changes and the responses of the visitors; then he explored how the theme park skillfully created a make-believe but extremely fascinating world with wonderful lighting and visual effects of fabulous colors, pleasant music, dazzling fireworks, splendid performances as well as gracious smiles of its staff. M.C has used the technique of long exposure in the photographs because he wanted to capture the memory, atmosphere and feelings of that particular moment in that particular space and so the audience can go through the continuous cycle of “bliss” and “void” that persists in the theme park.

About the artist:

M.C is a professional photographer born and raised in Hong Kong. He is a graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Major in Photography) program jointly organized by Hong Kong Art School and RMIT University, Australia. Currently, he is studying in the Master of Fine Arts program at Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2011, he held his solo photography exhibition Life in Living 《生命生活》 at Pingyao International Photography Festival in Shanxi, China. In the same year, his work Elites 《尖子》 represented Hong Kong Art School at the International Education Forum and Expo. In 2012, his work entered the WYNG Masters Award. In 2013, he was selected as a finalist at the Hasselblad Masters 2014 Competition and Three Shadows Photography Award.

-Art Experience Foundation

Image: © M.C