Amelia Johnson Contemporary

Amelia Johnson Contemporary presents My Space, an exhibition featuring two Hong Kong artists, Wong Kai Kin and David Smith. 

Working generally in small scale the work of each artist is figurative but otherwise wholly divergent in context and treatment. Wong uses the compact canvas to focus on tightly constructed views of apartments. His images evoke a sense of sterility and even isolation. Wong observes our projection of dreams and desires into the spaces we inhabit. 

In contrast the modest dimensions of Smith’s paintings are conceptually polarizing, depicting expansive subjects intimately. He employs washes and the chemical qualities of oil to produce vast sweeping vistas that unsettle but involve us. His images call to mind atmospheric pollution or perhaps a post apocalyptic afterglow.

Like Wong, Smith’s work concerns a sense of space and an uncompromising consideration of the state of our existence within it.