FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
13 May 2014
A NEW CROSS-CULTURAL VISION TAKES SHAPE TO STUNNING EFFECT
AS AN INSTALLATION BY SU XIAOBAI GRACES THE PENINSULA LOBBY
The legendary Lobby of The Peninsula Hong Kong has played host to some of the city’s most memorable cultural events and soirees for more than 85 years, and the hotel continues this proud tradition with the unveiling of Three Hundred Leafs, a site-specific installation by in-demand Chinese artist Su Xiaobai. Re-created exclusively for The Peninsula Hotels, and on show between 13 and 27 May 2014, the installation is part of the hotel’s “Love Art at The Peninsula” initiative, a series of projects that reflect the hotel’s commitment to supporting contemporary artists, and celebrating Hong Kong’s burgeoning art scene.
Presented in partnership with The Peninsula Hotels and Pearl Lam Galleries, Su Xiaobai’s site-specific installation is comprised of traditional clay roof tiles that originate from abandonedQing dynasty houses in China’s Fujian province. These tiles, to which the artist has applied black and red lacquer finishes to give them a more complex colour tone, have been suspended from the ceiling on wires, creating enchanting floating canopies above the entrances to the grand staircases and central column of The Lobby. Using only these basic building materials, Su Xiaobaicreates a strong visual tension between the domestic and vernacular, versus the classical Lobby aesthetic of the legendary Grande Dame of Hong Kong.
The installation is the second major work to be unveiled by The Peninsula in time for this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong, which takes place between 15 and 18 May 2014. This is the first time a contemporary work has been showcased in concert with The Peninsula’s iconic Lobby. With the opening of the M+ Museum for Visual Culture, the jewel in the crown of the long-awaited West Kowloon Cultural District that is currently under construction just a few minutes drive away, The Peninsula is perfectly positioned to make an important and lasting contribution to the art dialogue taking place right on its doorstep.
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A NEW CROSS-CULTURAL VISION TAKES SHAPE TO STUNNING EFFECT
AS AN INSTALLATION BY SU XIAOBAI GRACES THE PENINSULA LOBBY – 2
About Three Hundred Leafs
Three Hundred Leafs, 2006
Old tiles (late Ming Dynasty, early Republic Era), clay
Each 23 x 25 x 1 cm
In response to the classical décor of The Peninsula Hong Kong and the use of warm hues to convey refinement within such a transient environment, Su borrows a popular Chinese saying 小廬容我住，大地任人忙as the concept for the newest edition of this installation. Three Hundred Leafs was previously exhibited at the Shanghai Art Museum in Shanghai, Today Art Museum in Beijing, and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art in Taichung, Taiwan.
小廬容我住，大地任人忙literally means in this hectic world, one can seek refuge in one’s living quarters no matter how small and cramped they may be. This concept may seem ill fitted for such a glamorous site, but in fact it is a timely reminder to encourage all of us to achieve harmony with our sense of place and a peaceful state of mind. The character following 廬, “容”, has a double meaning. It can be interpreted as “容器”, a sacred vessel like’s Su’s work. While the word 容also implies “容忍”, to celebrate our ability to withstand an uncertain situation in a fast changing world.
Su transforms the common area in front of the hotel’s Concierge by suspending two hanging roofs made out of abandoned tiles from Qing dynasty houses founded in Fujian Province. Aligning the roofs at the same angle with the two grand staircases that define the hotel’sLobby, the tile roof on the left hand side of the Lobbyutilises plain and untreated tiles with the red lacquered surfaces facing down, while the right hand side roof utilises black lacquered tiles with the curvature facing towards The Lobby’s ceiling. A compact layering of red and black tiles is placed in the central section in order to ground the entire installation.
Three Hundred Leafs expresses the artist’s will to preserve such remnants often overlooked by urbanisation and to stage an ephemeral structure that invites the hotel visitors to perceive The Lobby anew as they come through the main entrance.
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A NEW CROSS-CULTURAL VISION TAKES SHAPE TO STUNNING EFFECT
AS AN INSTALLATION BY SU XIAOBAI GRACES THE PENINSULA LOBBY – 3
About Su Xiaobai
Su was born in 1949 in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province. In 1965, he joined the School of Art and Crafts in Wuhan, and from 1985 he studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Throughout that time his work inclined towards social realism. After receiving an Arts and Culture scholarship in 1987, he attended the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. First-hand experience of avant-garde Western art radically affected his outlook. While in Beijing, Su studied the techniques of traditional painting and accumulated his abilities in expressive techniques. In Germany, he strived to break away from the skills he mastered in Beijing, and developed a visual language rich in personal experience, life observation, and abstract symbols. During the 1990s his work became progressively less figurative, and following his return to China in 2003 it has increasingly focused on essential characteristics of colour, shape and surface.
Su unrestrainedly experimented with oil, lacquer, linen, wood, etc, as a substitute for oil on canvas, where lacquer and linen are in a purely structural and balanced composition. These elements alone underpin the creation of paintings whose self-contained presence is both affective and mysterious.
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A NEW CROSS-CULTURAL VISION TAKES SHAPE TO STUNNING EFFECT
AS AN INSTALLATION BY SU XIAOBAI GRACES THE PENINSULA LOBBY – 4
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About The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH)
Incorporated in 1866 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (00045), The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited is the holding company of a group which is engaged in the ownership, development, and management of prestigious hotels and commercial and residential properties in key locations in Asia, the United States and Europe, as well as the provision of tourism and leisure, club management and other services. The Peninsula Hotels portfolio comprises The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Peninsula Shanghai, The Peninsula Beijing, The Peninsula Tokyo, The Peninsula New York, The Peninsula Chicago, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Bangkok, The Peninsula Manila and The Peninsula Paris (expected opening in 2014). Projects under development include The Peninsula London and The Peninsula Yangon. The property portfolio of the group includes The Repulse Bay Complex, The Peak Tower, The Peak Tramways and St. John’s Building in Hong Kong; The Landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; the Thai Country Club in Bangkok, Thailand, and 21 avenueKléber in Paris, France.
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Ms Winvy Lung
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The Peninsula Hong Kong
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