Introduction:
‘The exhibition was the integration and culmination of the artist’s development. Inspired by “Aureola” or holy light, Ho’s new works challenged conventional iconography through a set of binary oppositions between desire and restrictions, limitation and liberation. While the body cage remained prominent, there was no light within the piece. Instead, each piece required an external light source. Through multiple perforations on the piece, light was casted on the ground outlining the shadow of the work. In addition to the previous object and light, shadow was the new dimension. It brought the work to an existential level well beyond our common understanding of sculpture.’
(by Henry Au-yeung, Director of Grotto Fine Art in the “Aureola: Ho, Siu-kee” exhibition catalogue)
Artist Statement:
“Aureola” is a series of sculpture work I developed in the recent years to explore the duality of the body – its limitation and liberation. Taking reference to the history of Medieval torture and punishment, the metal wearable sculptures suggest a tangible awareness of the limitation of the body and, on the other hand, embody the liberation of it with light (halo) as an intangible, metaphorical symbol being used. By employing metal and light to connote the idea of the constrained and the freed, it is expected that a broadened perception of “the bodies we lived” can be provoked.
