2024.10.27 - 2025.03.02

Trevor Yeung: Soft conch

Aranya Art Center is pleased to announce Trevor Yeung’s first museum solo exhibition in mainland China, Soft conch, presenting 7 new works and a large-scale sculpture jointly commissioned by Gasworks (London) and Para Site (Hong Kong). This exhibition is also the artist’s first institutional presentation since representing Hong Kong at this year’s Venice Biennale. Soft conch engages viewers through multiple sensory dimensions including sight, scent, and sound, the immersive experience drawing them into a world of human emotion woven from a web of interspecies connections.

Introduction

The commissioned sculpture Soapy F-Tree consists of a life-sized replica of an oak tree trunk from London’s Hampstead Heath, where constant contact with people has tipped the tree over and rubbed its bark smooth. The artwork is made from soap, and emits a subdued aroma that references the field charged with desire and power dynamics in which these night visitors to the grove encounter each other. The tactile relationship between soap and the body also alludes to the ambiguity and physicality of intimate acts. In an accompanying photograph, two stalactites slowly approach each other and merge on a timescale beyond humanity, a metaphor for the hesitant, halting dance of the encounter.

The sound of breathing heard throughout the space comes from the artwork Breathing Hermit, which could perhaps be seen as the artist’s “personal statement” on his cautious creative state. Conchs are scattered across the walls of the exhibition. These animals are adept at laying low, following the tides to conceal themselves among the waves, closely resembling certain marginalized groups in society. The dim orange light, the gradient colors of the walls, and the fragrance infused in the sand come to have a gaslight effect on the viewer, shaking their clarity about their own subjectivity and their position in time and space. Like “Soft conchs,” they remove their hard protective shells, and softly follow the artist into a space of desire between public and intimate, concealment and exposure.

The exhibition is organized by Damien Zhang, Director of the Aranya Art Center, and Curatorial Assistant Jiang Ruoyu. The exhibition will be on view from October 27, 2024 through March 2, 2025.

Co-comissioned in partnership with Gasworks (London) and Para Site (Hong Kong).

This exhibition is supported by Magician Space.

About the Artist

Trevor Yeung

Born 1988 in Guangdong Province, China. Currently lives and works in Hong Kong.

Trevor Yeung’s work has been included in major international events including the Lahore Biennale 03, 60th Venice Biennale, 24th Biennale of Sydney (all 2024); Singapore Biennale, 4th Kathmandu Triennale (both 2022); KölnSkulpture #10, Cologne (2020); 15th Biennale de Lyon (2019); 38th EVA International, Limerick, 4th Dhaka Art Summit (both 2018), and the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014). He has exhibited at institutions and galleries internationally including Gasworks in London, M+ in Hong Kong (2023); Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong, Singapore Art Museum, Jameel Arts Center in Dubai (all 2022); Shanghai Power Station of Art, Para Site in Hong Kong, HOW Art Museum in Shanghai (all 2020); CAC Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Kunsthall Trondheim (both 2019); Taikang Space in Beijing, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2018); esea contemporary in Manchester (2017) and OCAT Shenzen (2016).