Certain Parties were not pleased
Oscar Chan Yik Long: Certain parties were not pleased
Cazul 101, Bucharest, Romania
20.04–27.05.2023
Photos by Catalin Georgescu
In his first solo exhibition at Cazul 101 Oscar Chan Yik Long presents a series of new paintings in acrylic and Chinese ink on canvas together with some works in other techniques, all enveloped in a site-specific painting installation.
Chan’s images are arenas where figurative compositions – mostly based on film stills and executed in ink – can interact with non-narrative blots of colour. Sometimes the figures are teased out of random splashes of acrylic, sometimes they are superimposed with little concern for the movement of the paint as it dried on the canvas. And sometimes colour is inserted when the image is already in place.
These are unorthodox adaptations of traditional painting and colouring techniques. The ink brush dances over the clouds and rivulets of diluted paint, shaping the narrative that has driven Chan. In this exhibition he seeks to visualise, in equally unorthodox fashion, how religions are formed, how they crystallise from tales of monsters and devils, spirits and deities. As we build belief systems, do we focus on fear or on love? Do these systems help us connect to our higher selves or not?
The exhibition title, ‘Certain parties were not pleased’, is borrowed from the script of the film The Exorcist III (1990), in turn an adaptation of the novel Legion (1983) by William Peter Blatty, who also directed the film. The Exorcist III was not a critical success, but Chan always found Brad Dourif’s performance as the ‘Gemini Killer’ arresting and thought-provoking.
Who are the ‘certain parties’? It is a reference to organised religion as a source of influence and power over society. Chan’s focus is on spiritual searching and the individual path to love, whatever detours it might require. In cinema and other forms of popular culture, and in life around him, he has observed how discontent and disagreement become part of our struggle to find our true connection and focus. He wants to offer us a path, through these new works, to becoming more content, more agreeable.
The exhibition is set up as a small temple, accommodating different beliefs and juxtaposing them to drives and obsessions. Chan wanted to set an example of an inclusive space, where all kinds of beings would be welcome to experience, demonstrate and declare love in their own ways: a highly spiritual being (Goddess of the Heart), a monk lost while searching for the meaning of love (Heart Sutra Protection), a gambler immersed in his own light and darkness (Two-Up), a cat spirit relying on its innate energy of revenge (I Told You I Will Come Back) or a group of priests lost in formality who have forgotten or even lost their actual connection with God (Critical Mass, based on a still from The Exorcist III).
The suspended print A Too Distant Grace shows Guanyin, the Chinese Goddess of mercy whose name means ‘observe the sound’. The narrow length of fabric is cut so long that it falls onto the floor in cascading folds. Is this abundance a meaningful expression of devotion or is it redundant? What do we gain, in spiritual terms, by exaggerating the outer manifestations of our beliefs?
These are just examples from the exhibition. How you interpret them, and Chan’s work as a whole, will depend on your understanding of belief and of love.
Cazul 101, Bucharest, Romania
20.04–27.05.2023
Photos by Catalin Georgescu
In his first solo exhibition at Cazul 101 Oscar Chan Yik Long presents a series of new paintings in acrylic and Chinese ink on canvas together with some works in other techniques, all enveloped in a site-specific painting installation.
Chan’s images are arenas where figurative compositions – mostly based on film stills and executed in ink – can interact with non-narrative blots of colour. Sometimes the figures are teased out of random splashes of acrylic, sometimes they are superimposed with little concern for the movement of the paint as it dried on the canvas. And sometimes colour is inserted when the image is already in place.
These are unorthodox adaptations of traditional painting and colouring techniques. The ink brush dances over the clouds and rivulets of diluted paint, shaping the narrative that has driven Chan. In this exhibition he seeks to visualise, in equally unorthodox fashion, how religions are formed, how they crystallise from tales of monsters and devils, spirits and deities. As we build belief systems, do we focus on fear or on love? Do these systems help us connect to our higher selves or not?
The exhibition title, ‘Certain parties were not pleased’, is borrowed from the script of the film The Exorcist III (1990), in turn an adaptation of the novel Legion (1983) by William Peter Blatty, who also directed the film. The Exorcist III was not a critical success, but Chan always found Brad Dourif’s performance as the ‘Gemini Killer’ arresting and thought-provoking.
Who are the ‘certain parties’? It is a reference to organised religion as a source of influence and power over society. Chan’s focus is on spiritual searching and the individual path to love, whatever detours it might require. In cinema and other forms of popular culture, and in life around him, he has observed how discontent and disagreement become part of our struggle to find our true connection and focus. He wants to offer us a path, through these new works, to becoming more content, more agreeable.
The exhibition is set up as a small temple, accommodating different beliefs and juxtaposing them to drives and obsessions. Chan wanted to set an example of an inclusive space, where all kinds of beings would be welcome to experience, demonstrate and declare love in their own ways: a highly spiritual being (Goddess of the Heart), a monk lost while searching for the meaning of love (Heart Sutra Protection), a gambler immersed in his own light and darkness (Two-Up), a cat spirit relying on its innate energy of revenge (I Told You I Will Come Back) or a group of priests lost in formality who have forgotten or even lost their actual connection with God (Critical Mass, based on a still from The Exorcist III).
The suspended print A Too Distant Grace shows Guanyin, the Chinese Goddess of mercy whose name means ‘observe the sound’. The narrow length of fabric is cut so long that it falls onto the floor in cascading folds. Is this abundance a meaningful expression of devotion or is it redundant? What do we gain, in spiritual terms, by exaggerating the outer manifestations of our beliefs?
These are just examples from the exhibition. How you interpret them, and Chan’s work as a whole, will depend on your understanding of belief and of love.