‘One day, whilst I was painting, this long-standing debate suddenly came to my mind: do lines exist? I seemed to remember some artist once said that a line is merely the sharp junction between two blocks of colours that come into contact, that the plane is the creator of lines.’
This argument takes Ho Chan away from the assumptions of the point-line-plane postulate, and solves the artist's dilemma of drawing a straight line. ‘The technique for drawing a straight line is as follows: prepare a pencil and a piece of white paper, hold the pencil and focus your vision on the white paper rather than the ink, as the ink advances, the white paper is divided into two pieces, and if it remains evenly sized, you will get a straight enough line.’
By re-imagining the definition of a straight line in terms of drawing technique, Ho Chan’s latest series ‘Work In Progress’ (2022) not only reflects on the concept of line and plane but also explores other possibilities for experiencing a life or looking at any linear progression.
It all begins with death, and the soul is looking for the right vehicle to begin this lifeline.
Would the exact curve of the profile be unrecognisable without the shadow? Existence has always been the issue that comes up along the way.
Without light, everything would be in darkness, and it would be hard to tell the difference, but if one cares too much about being in the spotlight, one is contrarily trapped in darkness.
In the process of coming and going, one gradually has to carry the weight of other lives on one's shoulders. Somehow this is called growing up.
The grand finale is death, the passing of the soul, which will once again circle in the air, waiting for the next opportunity to swoop into the carrier.
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Ho Chan (b. 1994)
Attempting to use colour to translate ineffable feelings and phenomena into paintings, Ho Chan’s distorted figures are paired with a subdued colour palette of low brightness, creating a sense of restrained softness and dynamism.