Gavin Au –Giving citizens spiritual leisure by restoring the beauty of trivial scenes in this cosmopolitan
ByVincent LEE Kwun-leung
Art Officer
Art Of Nature International Company Limited
Cyanotype (Version 1 & 2)
The gray infrastructures, which are permanently sheltered by the dimmed atmospheric layers, sometimes convey art lovers with “a hopeless goal for neither endeavors nor competitions”. But, to an alternative perspective of aesthetic judgment, the notion of “grayness” can be regarded as a temporary mode of “spiritual retreat” from this “over-vivid” secular; whereas the corresponding author does not mind remaining themselves inside the city during their spare time and observing his/her nearby environment with a self-reflective or documentary approach. People with prestigious social status might get tired with the materialistic struggles. Thus, they enforce their minds to become as calm and peaceful as possible by abandoning their daily workloads.
Gavin Au Ka-yiu (區家耀), an active Hong Kong artist with a studying background in RMIT University, thoroughly comprehends the will of these aforementioned people and attempts to express how he is thanksgiving with his identity as an urban citizen. Gavin regards the dense distribution of residential and commercial buildings as a very honest representation of his growing origin, in which these help him accumulate a wide spectrum of cultural experiences for developing his language of art expression with “trivial scenes” as major themes.
Gavin Au selects roofs, industrial buildings, rock-made railings, interior settings with steel structures, and weeds from the old recreation areas as the most eye-catching iconographies to tell the global art scene about the unique perspective of Hong Kong citizens while dealing with the issue of ego-cultural inheritance. Everybody in this cosmopolitan gets used to appreciate the aforesaid mechanical substances with an empathetic and compassionate mind. These artificial sights are the places that shelter their wholesome childhood, which pledge them with unforgettable memories – such as playing hide-and-seek or handmade robot models with neighbors or school friends by making use of these environments filled with mysterious elements.
To raise a sense of cultural consonance among audiences from different social strata, Gavin Au manifested some inspiring angles of observation to re-integrate the aforementioned urban scenes with both photographical and printmaking effects. Gavin reserves cold colors as the major tone for his lithographical art pieces called “Cyanotype”, “Upskirt”, “My City” and “Eliminate Nature”. It gives room for the audiences to comprehend the far-reaching impact of our “heat-island-liked” urban landscape in fabricating the cored values of Hong Kong majority, particularly the pursuit of media or electronic entertainments, the unnoticeable exposure to the influx of information, the eagerness for liberty in lifestyle, the submissiveness towards commercial authorities, the philosophy of marketing values, the unprecedented linkage with popular culture, the unquestioned faith on conscientious thinking in various social controversies, the tight connection among family acquaintances, the admiration on multi-functional living circumstances, and the emphasis on collective memories with effort on architectural conservation.
Gavin Au urges the art lovers for a loyalty to the “infra-structural inertia” of Hong Kong. There has been a long history in which our society paid less emphasis on organizing different kinds of cultural heritages as a unified system for the future research or developmental purposes of the latter generation, nor to say a provision of innovative ideas for the entrepreneurial individuals to explore new brands for cultural and creative productions. Gavin deserves compliments from the art circuit, for his great enthusiasm in beginning such historical task from the perspectives of the post-80s generation in the aspect of reminiscing their growing processes, whereas he can still bridge a communication gap with the elder basic-class citizens who courteously took part in the rapid socio-economic development of Hong Kong in the past century. Through the exploration of technological benefits in his aesthetic presentation, Gavin actually demonstrates a phenomenon in which the current adolescents survive toughly by adapting themselves to the equilibrium among the conventional ethics, the strike of post-contemporary knowledge and the effort of getting well equipped with diversified aspects of skill-based competencies.
* Sources of Artwork Photos:
Left:Eliminate Nature – Lithography (2007)
Right:The Upskirt - Lithography (2007)
My City - Gum Print (2008)
Self-photo of Gavin Au Ka-yiu