PDF pageEmail pagePrint page

Rui Cunha Foundation Gallery

30/4 – 24/5/2014

Opening & Artist Talk: 30／4／2014   18：30

Moderator: Pan Lei

Language: Cantonese

Cocktail served, Free admission

Cityscape has profound impacts on our lives. Macao scholar and cultural critic Pan Lei in Meeting Macao at the Edge of the World writes ‘cityscape impacts a city internally and externally, and in both macro and micro scale. It is how Macao appears to the world, influences entrepreneurs’ decisions for their investment and the tourists’ decision for their visits, these are the external impacts. Cityscape is a vital fabric of how Macao people identify themselves, define what the City is and who the people are, and eventually permeates into their mind, this is how it impacts internally. In the macro scale, the cityscape marks political change and economy of Macao. In the micro scale, cityscape creeps silently into our life, it influence the way we see beauty, our attitude to money, and our walking speed. Macao cityscape perhaps is no more than a glimpse to tourists, however as a Macao citizen we should not be ignoring this piece of living space that we inextricably bonded with.
Maps have an inherent beauty in their way of ordering things. Antonis Antonious writes in the preface of A Map of the World According to Illustrators and Storytellers,‘Only few graphic representation devices have been such a fountainhead of wonderment, controversy, and utility as maps have. What seems to have begun on a more intuitive level has evolved over time into a sophisticated visual instrument. Maps have proven to be a versatile medium through which to express our inquisitive nature and make sense of our physical world. Within a singular visual, we are able to impose order by appropriating reality and its complex layers. It is an endeavor that emanates an intoxicating sense of power in harnessing knowledge […] Maps make compelling promises. […] They grasp greater concepts, detect patterns, prognosticate, and reveal new layers of meaning. […] Cartography can be an incredible form of escapism, as maps act as proxies for experiences, real or fabricated. Whatever their purpose or subject matter, even the most rudimentary of maps have an inherent beauty, an attraction in their way of ordering things.’
Filled With whim, wit and wisdom, Eric Fok experiments an intriguing combination of both cityscape and cartography in his works, he intersects the past with the present, meets the east with the west, making reality and imagination inseparable. Gigantic casinos, soaring Macao Tower, jam-packed traffic on each vintage illustrated map of Macao, the Artist eloquently articulates his concerns of this tiny land where he calls it home.

Eric Fok makes an intimate narrative of how he feels about Macao. What does the City mean to you? Mapping Macao is an extended public art project from Paradise: Solo Exhibition by Eric Fok, fill your stories of love, or hatred, the things that you see, or often neglected, on to the map we provide and join our growing gallery at the opposite corner! 

Eric Fok

Borned in Macao, Eric Fok is an extraordinaire young artist and the creator of ‘Paradise’ series, the vintage-illustrated maps that brim with whim, wit and wisdom. His works have been selected by The 50th Bologna Illustrators Exhibition, Art Nova 100 of China, Art Revolution Taipei 2014, and the winner of the 2nd Fundação Oriente Art Award. Exhibited across the globe including New York, Italy, Portugal, Japan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao, Fok has participated in group exhibitions including The 50th Bologna Illustrators exhibition (Italy and Japan), FEBRE (Portugal), and Affordable Art Fair New York 2013. Fok’s works are being collected by Macao SAR Government Headquarter, Macao Cultural Affairs Bureau, Macao Orient Foundation and other private collectors from Las Vegas, Italy, U.K., Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao.