In Location One’s Project Room, Specific Gravity, new paintings by Lyra Abueg Garcellano, and video work by Kwan Sheung Chi (through June 12)

“The cascading dreamers in Lyra’s pictures have merely fallen from their bed to the
bedroom floor, from the rocky ridge to the grassy plateau, from the sofa to the carpet, the dream making up most of the distance in their imagined descent.”
-Jose Tence Ruiz “Old Paint”

Two new canvases and several collages, completed by Lyra Abueg Garcellano during her residency at Location One, are the centerpieces of Specific Gravity on view in Location One’s Project Room through June 12. Continuing her exploration of fallen bodies (sleeping? dreaming?), the large scale works depict figures splayed on the ground, lush brushstrokes melding the backdrops with the drapery of the figures’ clothing. A skewed bird’s eye view renders foreground and background practically indistinguishable, making it unclear whether the bodies have actually fallen or are actually disembodied arms and legs floating toward the viewer.

Kwan Sheung Chi is obsessed with suicide–at least with feigning his own, repeatedly–in blackly humorous depictions that are clearly designed to fail. The pseudo snuff films that comprise “Plan A-Z to End My Life” are a series of grainy black and white, gorgeously shot videos chronicling alphabetically-organized, half-hearted attempts by the artist to off himself. That the series consists of more than one “plan” presupposes its failure, which either ironically reaffirms life or mocks death–but more likely points to some liminal (and dare we suggest: non-ironic?) position between the two.

Specific Gravity is on view through June 12, 2010

About the Artists:
Lyra Abueg Garcellano was born in 1972 in Manila, Philippines, and graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (1994) and from the University of the Philippines with a BFA (2000). She has held numerous solo exhibitions and was an artist in residence for the Cemeti Art Foundation in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, which was made possible through the UNESCO-ASCHBERG Bursaries for Artists in 2002. She has also participated in countless international group exhibitions, including Post-Tsunami Art, Emerging Artists from Southeast Asia (2009, Milan, Italy), Jakarta Biennale XIII (2009, Jakarta), Trauma Interrupted (2007, Cultural Center of the Philippines); Balancing Act (2006, Future Prospects, Quezon City); Flippin’ Out: From Manila to Williamsburgh (2005, Goliath Visual Space, NY); and the 2002 Gwangju Biennale. Garcellano is also an accomplished illustrator of children’s books and is the author of a comic strip in a national daily newspaper in the Philippines. Ms. Garcellano’s residency at Location One is supported by the Asian Cultural Council.

Kwan Sheung Chi was born in 1980, Hong Kong. He obtained a third honor B.A. degree in Fine Art from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003. In 2000 he was named the “King of Hong Kong New Artist”. In 2002 “Kwan Sheung Chi Touring Series Exhibitions, Hong Kong” was toured in 10 major exhibition venues in Hong Kong. Within the same year, the Hong Kong Art Centre presented “A Retrospective of Kwan Sheung Chi”. In 2003, he set up a studio in Fotan, and since then became an active member of the “Fotanian” artist studios complex. From 2004 he became a nine-to-fiver in Central. He has never participated in any major exhibitions held internationally. In addition to his studio practice, he has created a web-based channel, entitled HKADC (Hong Kong Arts Discovery Channel) which aims to promote critical discourse through interviews with artists, curators, critics and the audiences. He is also a founding member of local art groups, hkPARTg (Political Art Group) and Woofer Ten, both of which focus on experimental practicing of art in relation to local politics, social issues and communities. In 2009, Kwan Sheung Chi’s residency at Location One is supported by the Asian Cultural Council.
http://kwansheungchi.com