[SURFACE|幕]

There was a sense of helplessness in the two stories about Canton enamel told by the craftsman who has inherited the craft, and the same time, I could viscerally feel the fate of these traditional craftsmanship of intangible cultural heritage, caught in the torrent of big epochal changes. It made me rethink the sumptuous, but fragile sense of value of the decorate arts.

— HE Wei

Surface is an installation that combines vertical curtains with dynamic projection. Based on the color palette of Canton enamel, an intangible cultural heritage, and overland with elements from the graphic design of collectible old candy wrappers, the work explores the hidden symbolic meaning of decorative arts and their significance to the times. From there, the works also depicts a transference from the changes in the aesthetics of great society to the more personal memories of candies that individuals could relate to, as well as the multiple layers of allusions within.

Through the use of mixed media and efforts of light, in combination with the blurred stained-glass windows in the gallery, the work evokes classic Cantonese aesthetics and the familiar atmosphere of the hours in the afternoon approaching dust. In this colorful and ornate space that comes with a pleasing sense of emptiness, viewers are prompted to reflect on on the value of time, the existential meaning of intangible cultural heritage, and the meaning of collective inheritance.

Surface is one piece of group exhibition, Something Begets Something More, at SaiKwan Mansion in Guangzhou, Canton province, China.