Asia Art Archive welcomed the artist group C&G, comprised of Hong Kong artists Clara Cheung and Cheng Yee Man (Gum) as our resident from January to May 2014.
During this five-month period, the artists continued their ongoing project Meet the Parents, first conceived as one of the AAA organised Open Platform meetings for Art Basel Hong Kong in May 2013. Through interviews with the parents of Hong Kong artists, C&G aims to understand the changes in Hong Kong’s cultural ecology from the perspectives of the people closest to the artists, but not actively engaged in the art scene, and study how artists’ families contributed to the development of their artistic careers.
Meet the Parents interviews will be conducted in a private setting but all the meetings will be video-documented and edited versions will be shared with the public. The artists aim to develop this ‘meeting’ series as a cross-generation oral history project on Hong Kong Art. In the meantime, they will explore different implementations of the ‘Hong Kong Art Quiz Contest.’ The questions asked may not directly discuss the qualitative content of artworks, but will indirectly reflect the recent development of Hong Kong Art, its inter-relationships with arts in other regions, and its upcoming trends, in a serious but playful manner. Apart from these specific projects, the residency is also an invitation to C&G to intervene in AAA’s ongoing programmes and activities.
C&G (Clara & Gum) is an artist group of two Hong Kong artists Clara Cheung and Cheng Yee Man (Gum). The couple founded the art space C&G Artpartment in Hong Kong in 2007.
Clara Cheung (Clara) graduated from Rhodes College, Tennessee, USA with a double major in Fine Art and Computer Science. In 2002, Cheung studied for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and received a MA in Cultural Studies from Lingnan University, Hong Kong. She was the head of the Visual Arts department of a local high school from 2003 to 2007, is currently an active member of the non-profit art group, Project 226, a founder of C&G Artpartment, and a part-time lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University. She has co-curated many art exhibitions at C&G Artpartment and organises various art projects for other local organisations and schools. Having had different solo and group exhibitions in Hong Kong and overseas, she explores different art media in her art practice. Her works are in various museum and private collections.
Cheng Yee Man (Gum) was born in Hong Kong. In 1998, Gum completed the social work programme at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) in Drawing from RMIT University in 2002. In 2007, Gum received an MA in Comparative and Public History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Gum was a member of the School Management Committee. He is a registered social worker, part-time lecturer of the Hong Kong Art School, a founder of C&G Artpartment, and Chairman of the Hong Kong non-profit art group Project 226. Since 2000, he has curated more than 100 art exhibitions, educational programmes, seminars, and exchange programmes. His curatorial direction mainly critiques politics, social issues, and art eco-systems. His artworks explore various media, such as painting, drawing, performance, stop-motion animation, photography, video, and installation.
C&G also plans to develop an artist book following their Not as Trivial as You Think: Hong Kong Art Quiz performance held during Art Basel Hong Kong 2014.
C&G's residency was generously supported by the Burger Collection, Hong Kong.