REVERIE – Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition by Wong Ka Long

Wong Ka Long is considered as a sculpture artist in the traditional sense despite his young age. He has many public works commissioned by the government, institutions and private sectors. For this occasion, we have invited him to present some of his sculpture works to be scattered within the charming and relaxing environment of Taipa Village as a way to promote the cultural and artistic scene outside the conventional gallery space.

This interactive outdoor exhibition aims to encourage audience to explore different sculptures of the artist in Taipa Village, enticing them to discover the artworks in different areas, and be inspired by the cultural charm of the village when strolling around.  The sculptures will embody the artist’s creativity and the character of Taipa Village.

Tea Room

The structure is inspired by Japanese-style four-and-a-half tatami mat tea rooms and also features “helmet” bells in blue, green and yellow. The public can enter its specially designed open space, sitting to face each other at a distance of one metre

-Sculpture Name:  Tea Room

-Material:  Bamboo, Metal

-Size :  3 m x 3 m

-Location: Largo Maia de Magalhães, Taipa

Please enter and sit here for a while

Bless

This sculpture adopts the design features of a Japanese shrine, serving as a place for the public to pray for blessings. The “helmet” bells inside are in three colours – blue, green and yellow, represent hygiene and health amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue and green symbolise the colours of face masks, while yellow represents the colour of personal protective clothing.

-Sculpture Name: Bless

-Material: Bamboo, Metal

-Size : 3 m x 3 m

-Location: Largo Governador Tamagnini Barbosa, Taipa

Please swing the helmet bells and make a wish

Curator’s Statement

In continuity with previous initiatives to promote art in the public space, Wong Ka Long is a sculpture artist who accepted our invitation to propose an outdoor installation that thoughtfully engages with the passersby. By utilising over the years’ military helmets with different decorative paintings as an alternative sculptural object in his art pieces, they have become one of his signature elements as a way to bind West and Eastern cultures and forge new meanings in each exhibition.
This time, the helmets are bound together by a string and hung like bells, enticing the curious visitors to swing them to get some sort of sound or even write on them as a praying wish. In addition, these “helmet bells” are housed in a bigger structure made of bamboo. There are two locations with these bamboo structures and both of them have a different shape: a bell tower, and a tea house. The latter is also lit up at night, producing a mystical environment which adds another dimension to the piece and may correlate to a famous expression “art is the highest form of hope” (Gerhard Richter, 1982). Under this premise, each visitor may swing the bell and make a wish.

João Ó

About Wong Ka Long

 “Art adds an elegant protection to our life.” Wong Ka Long

Macau local artist.

Born in Portuguese Macau in 1977, Wong’s father is a watercolor painter. In 1996, Wong studied Sculpture at The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and gained a Master’s Degree in 2003. During his university life, he went to The Silk Road for traveling. As born in a colony, Wong was inspired by the blending of Western and Eastern cultures in there. After the graduation, he went back to Macau and started teaching and art creation.

Since 2004, Wong has been participating in different sculpture projects, and figure sculpture is his most popular work. Having a strong interest in military products, Wong started thinking the meaning and availability of using a helmet. It was because he wanted to make some noises between cultural communication and military involvement. He specially got the inspiration from the policy of preserving Portuguese military relics implemented by the Macau government at that time, and created “The Love from the West” series in 2015. They were some steel helmets that decorated with blue and white flower patterns. After that, Wong continued to search the connections between painting and metal, culture and military, and he kept making some trials.

Wong is now the member of China Artists Association, member of Cultural Consultative Committee of Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau, vice director of Macau Artists Society, as well as the member of Macau Sculpture Association. His works were collected by many organizations, including Macau Tung Sin Tong, Macau Catholic Diocese, Henry Fok Foundation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Fu Jen University, Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government and Macau Kiang Wu Hospital, etc.

Organiser 

Sponsor

Production Partner 

成記棚廠

Art Consultant