During the residency, Chen will build a series of large-scale sculptural installations and spatial interventions that simultaneously functions as dictatorial spatial demarcation, that frames and stages sculpture and painting works in various scales. The interplay between spatial qualities, imagery and objects presents itself as a Gesamtkunstwerk that is constantly in metamorphosis, transforming the gallery space into a schizophrenic, psychedelic, and LARPING-esque (Live Action Role Play) visual experience. The space will be divided to create a disorienting labyrinth that echos the isometric maps in digital role-playing games (RPG) popularized in the early 90s and 00s. Investigating the ontological natures of contemporary hyperreality and mystical hyperstition, the artist aims to generate transgressive narratives with visceral imageries within the exhibition space that challenge the constructs of perception, as well as the definitions of real versus artificial negotiating between the subjects of primitivity, technological acceleration, and post-secular modes of existence.

About the artist

Chen Pin Tao aka AznGothBoy was born in 1994 in Sydney, Australia, and lives and works between Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Chen Pin Tao’s most recent exhibitions include Nothing Sacred, Superweakness, The Hague, Netherlands (2021); Cicada Songs, Decaying Petrichor, Sedentary Enslavement, Hawaii, USA (2020); and Sim.Sen, PLATESPACE, Beijing, China (2020); Tutorial, BSMNT Gallery, Leipzip, Germany (2020); Bit Street Hong Kong, The New Art Fest, Lisbon, Portugal (2020); Cellophane Mother Memory, Underground Flower x CorpseSimulacrum, Hong Kong (2020); Hong Kong – Tales of the City, Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, USA (2020); Post Impression West Lake, The fART, Martin Goya Business, Hangzhou, China (2019); Fart-Like Future, The fART, Martin Goya Business, Hangzhou, China (2019); Play, Boredom, Workship, Tomorrow Maybe, Hong Kong, China (2019); .Gif Festival – Left Right Right Left Movement, Videotage, Hong Kong, China (2019); and Post-Industrial Landscapes 2.0, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China (2015).

About deSAR

Inaugurated in 2017, de Sarthe’s open-studio residency takes place in its 10,000sq/foot space in Hong Kong’s art district, Wong Chuk Hang. In a city known for excessively high rent and exceedingly small spaces, the residency allows Hong Kong-based artists the freedom of a large arena to explore their creativity and actively encourages audiences to witness as well as potentially participate in the process of making art. The residency program aggressively challenges the conventional transition of dynamics between artists’ studios and galleries—subverting both the notion of privacy within creation and altering the nature of a gallery space.