Tsang Kin-Wah: T REE O GO D EVIL

gdm Hong Kong is pleased to present Tsang Kin-Wah: T  REE O  GO  D EVIL, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. T  REE O   GO   D  EVIL is an immersive experience that probes at the fragile core of morality and examines humanity’s brutality, especially as manifested during chaotic and wartime periods.

The title of the exhibition, T  REE O  GO  D  EVIL, invokes the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve’s premature consumption of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents a pivotal moment of moral awakening. By acquiring this forbidden knowledge, they ushered in an awareness of the duality of good and evil, a concept that would come to be seen as the root of sin. The gallery space is transformed to imitate the Garden of Eden, the site of Golgotha, and the scene depicted in Francisco Goya’s haunting “Disasters of War” print series, Grande hazaña! Con muertos! (A Heroic Feat! With Dead Men!).

The central column in the gallery space, as well as the ceiling, is fully covered in text that mimics the appearance of a tree, with its branches and leaves. On a sloped hill, two TVs showing black and white videos of humans burning and crawling serve as “fragments” or “limbs and skulls”—vivid evidence of the brutality and evilness of humanity. Through such spatial and visual elements, Tsang explores good and evil not as two absolute opposites but rather as intertwining and coexisting forces that are not easily distinguished. Inspired by Nietzsche’s call to revalue all established moral and religious values, Tsang’s investigations are especially pertinent in a time when all-consuming conflicts are inflicted by entrenched ideologies.

Through heightening the intensity of perceptual experience, T  REE O   GO   D  EVIL explores the complexities of moral ambiguity, human brutality, and the instability of ideas and values.

Tsang Kin-Wah (b. 1976, Shantou, China) migrated to Hong Kong at age six. After completing an undergraduate degree in fine art at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2000, he moved to London in 2002 and received a master’s degree in book arts at the Camberwell College of Arts, London Institute (now the University of the Arts London) in 2003. Tsang lives in Hong Kong.

In his early works, Tsang combined texts in decorative patterns to create wallpaper that covers the walls, floors, and ceilings of their designated exhibition spaces. On closer inspection, seemingly elegant floral patterns reveal themselves as profane writings by both the artist and other authors. In doing so, Tsang brings to the fore contradictions between image and text, appearance and content. Such interplays continue to be important in Tsang’s transition from static wall-based art to multimedia video installations. Created after 2009, the latter type of works often creates an immersive environment through digitally rendered, dynamic text and image projections. Their subjects range widely from identity, politics and cultural conflicts to current and historical events.

His works can be found in key collections and museums, including the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco), M+ Museum of Visual Culture (Hong Kong), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), and MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts (Rome). Tsang represented Hong Kong at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.