Edouard Malingue Gallery is thrilled to present a dual solo show with leading Asian artists Samson Young (b. 1979, Hong Kong) and Chou Yu-Cheng (b. 1976, Taiwan).

Multicultural paradigms, weaved into a symphony of image and sound, are at the heart of Hong Kong artist and composer, Samson Young’s practice. With a formal cross-cultural training in music composition, Young channels his attunement to melody by pushing it’s formalist boundaries to create innovative cross-media experiences that touch upon the recurring topics of identity, war and literature. On display are a collection of Young’s drawings created upon his recent Container Residency. On June 29th 2016 Young departed from Port Klang, Malaysia on a ten day journey on ZIM Qingdao. Traveling along the ZIM East Mediterranean / Black Sea Express Service line, he stopped in Da Chan Bay, China before disembarking in Busan, South Korea. Young created the drawings onboard as part of his ‘What the Lighthouses Taught Me’ series, which follows from his systematic approach to creating visualscapes when developing compositions. Serving as works in their own right, as well as forms of graphical annotation reflecting his research-based voyages, the drawings introduce the extensions of Young’s composition work into the physical realm. ‘What the lighthouses taught me (Control Deck, Captain’s Room, ZIM Cargo/June 30, 2016, 5:30 – 7 pm)’ (2016), for example, juxtaposes zonal delineations with references to sounds heard, times and sights seen. Displaying the immersive rhythmic sequences of his visual artistic practice, the drawings outline Young’s multidisciplinary practice and interest in politics as well as the creation of borders.

In conversation with Young’s works are several pieces by Chou Yu-Cheng. Modified, shifted or transferred elements amounting to new relationships between status and object: herein lies the pulse of Chou’s practice that builds, across multiple mediums, a subtle critique of mass media, institutions and the mechanisms that produce them. Presented across a section of the booth are various wall-based installations that follow from his ongoing investigation ‘Chemical Gilding, Keep Calm, Galvanise, Pray, Gradient, Ashes, Manifestation, Unequal, Dissatisfaction, Capitalise, Incense Burner, Survival, Agitation, Hit, Day Light’ that bridges wallpaper, sculpture and painting. The overall display is punctuated by delicate acrylic on canvas paintings displaying dreamy shades of pastel degradés. Part of his ‘Untitled Calmness’ series, they are conceived from Chou’s notion of “daylight” and juxtaposed with renders referring to Taiwan’s housing market engendered from three domestic surveys of the public’s overall sense of satisfaction, as well as slabs of steel. Counterposed by a stack of cylindrical sculptures created from the rolls used to wrap artworks, Chou’s work provides various visual planes for contemplating bases of production, creation and the surrounding markets.

Ultimately, the booth brings together two of the most exciting artists in Asia and presents an investigation of their ongoing relationship with sound as well as visualscapes, specifically how these can be extended to mount reflections on topics as varied as geographical boundaries, market fluctuations and sights of nature.