Campus Digest

Visual Arts graduates clinch three awards at Fresh Trend 2017 Art Graduates Joint Exhibition

03 Nov 2017

Two fresh graduates of the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) won the Karin Weber Art Award and the Affordable Art Fair Art Award at the Fresh Trend 2017 Art Graduates Joint Exhibition. This is the second consecutive year that AVA students have won two of the exhibition’s most prominent awards. Another fresh graduate won the Fresh Trend Art Award.

The Fresh Trend 2017 Art Graduates Joint Exhibition gathers the most outstanding art graduates from three local art institutions. A total of 23 local graduates who graduated this year were nominated by the AVA of HKBU, Department of Fine Arts of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Art School.

Lam Tsz-ching, who won the Affordable Art Fair Art Award, collected bras and took out the wires and fabric to weave a Cradle to represent the female form. She feels very thankful and honoured to receive this unexpected award. She wanted to deliver a message to all young artists -- follow their heart and intuition despite external expectations, flattery or criticism, and hold onto the internally driven desire to create.

Tse Chun-sing, who received the Karin Weber Art Award, broke apart the instruments he did not succeed in playing, and with his interest and knowledge in mechatronics he created his own sound-making device which he named The Music Instrument. He wanted to generate his own music through this device and express his regrets to his parents and deliver the voice from his heart. He thanked AVA for nominating him as well as the exhibition for providing him with an opportunity to display his works. This experience which facilitated communication with students from other institutions has encouraged him to carry on creating art.

Wang Yiyi, who received the Fresh Trend Art Award, put her stories into the objects that she sealed as a vacuumed product in her artwork Objects Obsession. They record and preserve the memories of a Beijing-born Hong Kong resident and show the relationship between the two cities. She said the award is a huge encouragement as her art has been questioned and criticised by others. This recognition proves the value of her effort and her art. She said she wanted to take this opportunity to tell art students to never doubt themselves.

Fresh Trend 2017 Art Graduates Joint Exhibition runs until 5 November at chi K11 art space, Tsim Sha Tsui.