Trevor Yeung | Garden Cruising: that camouflage | Frieze London 2022

TREVOR YEUNG

GARDEN CRUISING : THAT CAMOUFLAGE

“Garden Cruising: that camouflage”, a solo presentation of Trevor Yeung at Frieze Focus. Yeung combines works from different stages of his practice, including the large-scale site-specific spatial installation Between Water (2019), which suspends mid-air at eyelevel an orderly grid of 25 cups of water, their in-between spaces viewers must carefully navigate to experience the art fair booth. Other works consist of readymade assemblage objects such as the Cacti series (2016-present) and the Night Mushroom Colon series (2020-present), and his Enigma and Garden Cruising photographic installations series.

Like a sentence taken apart and recombined, Yeung constructs an intimate semiotics of desire, creating a space where artworks become metaphors and signifiers for the emancipation of everyday aspirations towards human relationships. In this matrix of relational spaces, desiring objects, and natural imageries, human and non-human actors are immersed into a structure thoughtfully orchestrated by the artist. Yeung’s “Garden Cruising” allows for meaningful interaction and connection, but only in a certain way.

First created during the Yeung’s residency at Kohta, Helsinki in 2019, Between Water is an installation work featuring suspended plastic cups half-filled with water. Situated in and orderly grid, the distance between each cup embodies the polite distance during a face-to-face encounter between strangers or acquaintances. By choosing disposable plastic cups over more precious materials such as glass or ceramic, the artist evokes social settings of more egalitarian nature, such as art space openings or casual house parties.

The physical presence of the cups of water powerfully materializes the usually invisible conventions that maintain the fragile equilibrium in social interactions. Steering too far, one appears distant and unfriendly. Stepping too close, one risks intruding into other’s personal space. Simultaneously, this gap between waters allows for an audience to navigate through the space, though not without a hyperconsciousness, as one misstep would bring the tranquil suspension into a state of flux.

By restaging this work in a post-pandemic age, the artist wonders how our sense of interpersonal space is affected by social distancing and lockdown measures.

BETWEEN WATER

2019 plastic cup, fishing thread, water

Installation size variable Edition of 3

| Installation view: 2019, “Trevor Yeung: Awkward Introduction”, Kohta, Helsinki, Finland

In Yeung’s Cacti series, specimens of dried fugu blowfish are disguised as cacti plants potted in soil, yet on closer inspection, texture of fish skin and fin spikes are revealed. Questioning the nature of objects and the superficiality of first impressions and appearances, the artist playfully interrogates the essentialist categories of identification that flatten the nuances of realities.

The artist places these cacti into special vessels that compound its meaning. Cacti in twins pot (12.5 & 12.8cm) is a pair of cacti planted in a handmade conjoined double black stoneware, its double form an auspicious symbol of togetherness. However, as the cacti sit close to each other, their spikes risk pricking into each other, engendering a tense relationship between uncommon bedfellows. Cacti in a love story places the work in a hexagonal porcelain pot, each side depicting a scene from an anonymous love story of a young woman facing suiters in a Chinese garden. The characters are holding flowers like the peony, regarded as the king of all flowers that signifies the expectation and yearning for a fulfilled life, symbolized by the development of the humble peony buds to the blooming of peony flowers. Another flower held by the suitor, the crab apple, symbolises bitter love and separation of lovers. The exuberantly storytelling meaning of the flower language casts a sharp contrast to that of the prickly cactus.

CACTI

Night Mushroom Colon is a mixed-media work that combines electrical converters and nightlights, giving out a stealthy bioluminescence that suggests a secretive realm. Inhabiting dark corners unlikely to perturb a sleepy walker, these mushrooms thrive in fecundity, and reproduce through polyamorous converters and ever-changing colours. Their casual disinterest to human hegemony and agency provides a viable alternative for multispecies entanglement and survival.

Night Mushroom Colon, placed under the table or in a corner, belies the artist’s desire for hidden comfort. Like someone who sits in the corner of a buzzling house party or night club, the night mushroom blooms passively, yearning and waiting for that one meaningful connection to happen.

NIGHT MUSHROOM COLON

2022

| Installation view: 2021 “trust and confusion”, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong

Magician

The use of botany, ecology and plants forms a major pillar in Trevor’s practice, which ranges from photography, assemblages of found objects, to large site-specific installations. Seeing plants as non-human actors with its own form of agency, attention span, and temporality, Yeung projects the conflicting internal emotions and struggles of human beings onto these beings in nature. Borne out of personal experiences and observation of daily life, the artist creates strategic structures for these plants to interact as a metaphor for the complicated constructs of human systems that regulate and control our relationality.

For instance, Yeung’s Garden Cruising: It’s not easy being green (2015) is a series of photographic installations mediated by a shifting matrix of eyelevel height trees, some of them obstructing a direct view of the image. Just like meandering in a garden where sightlines and gazes are blocked and adapted to the landscape, Yeung asks his viewers to navigate, dodge, and even peek through foliage to make eye contact with the image. In keeping, Yeung creates a carefully engineered social environment in Mr. Butterflies series (2012-2019), where he places multiple pots of butterfly palms on slowly rotating platforms. Illuminated by colored spotlights from the floor, the draping palm leaves cast rotating shadows in the surrounding, creating a sensuous vibe that is suggestive of a heterotopic space between formal introduction and private flirtation.

| Installation view: 2019, “Trevor Yeung: Awkward Introduction”, Kohta, Helsinki, Finland

GARDEN CRUISING SERIES

Made during a 2019 residency in Helsinki, Awkward Introduction shows two neighbourly trees touching lightly in wintry snow, suggesting a reserved interaction between the two lonely trees. Borne out of observations on interactions during his stay in the Nordic country, Yeung sees that people in the city tend to interact with each other in ways designed to minimise intimacy. Yeung points out the contradiction between our internal state of feeling lonely and longing to connect, and our social upbringing that upholds individuality and independence. Such contradiction has been deepened by our recent adaptation to social distancing, which makes this image evermore timely to ponder upon.

Produced by the precipitation of minerals, stalactites and stalagmites take thousands of years to grow a few centimetres. Depicted in Soon to Meet, the tips of a stalactite and stalagmite are about to come into contact, meeting soon, but perhaps not soon enough in our human perception of time.

| Installation view: 2020, “there’s something missing”, Wontonmeen, Hong Kong

view: 2015, “Garden Cruising: It’s not easy being green”, Booth: Blindspot Gallery, Art|Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong

In his research about the cruising culture of London, Yeung made a visit to the “Fuck Tree”, the infamous spot in the cruisey part of Hampstead Heath in North London. The Fuck Tree has entered the tales of legend due to its convenient height and length for men to bend over and copulate. Repeated use of the tree trunk by horny men has rubbed smooth its surface, which the artist captured through the tactile process of moulding and recasting in metal. Not only does this make visible the symbiosis of humanized nature and animalistic mating, the artist creates an earnest imprint of the erotic possibilities and collective libido of our public spaces. This research project undertaken during Yeung’s residency at Delfina Foundation in Spring 2022, will turn into his forthcoming solo exhibition at Gasworks, London in 2023.

Trevor Yeung uses botanic ecology, horticulture, aquarium system and installations as metaphors that reference the emancipation of everyday aspirations towards human relationships. Yeung draws inspiration from intimate and personal experiences, culminating in works that range from image-based works to large-scale installations. Obsessed with structures and systems, he creates different scales of systems which allow him to exert control upon living beings, including plants, animals, as well as spectators.

Yeung has participated in biennials including Singapore Biennale (2022); Kathmandu Triennale (2022); la biennale de Lyon (2019); “Cruising Pavilion” at the 16th International Architecture Biennale, Venice (2018); EVA International Biennale, Ireland (2018); 4th Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh (2018); and the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2014), in addition to exhibitions in institutions and galleries internationally. His work is in the collection of M+, Hong Kong; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and San Francisco; Stiftung Skulpturenpark Köln; and FRAC Alsace.

Yeung currently lives and works in Hong Kong.

ABOUT TREVOR YEUNG

b. 1988, Guangdong Province, China

COLLECTIONS

M+, Hong Kong

Kadist Art Foundation Centre Pompidou

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Stiftung Skulpturenpark Köln

FRAC Alsace

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022 “You Turn Your Back On Me” Galerie Allen, Paris, France

“Not everything is about you”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong

2021 “Try So Hard to Make Things Happen, Incense Tree”, Oil Street Art Space, Hong Kong

2020 “there’s something missing”, Wontonmeen, Hong Kong

2019 “Trevor Yeung: Awkward Introduction”, Kohta, Helsinki, Finland

“Typhoon No.9”, Galerie Allen, Paris, France

2018 “In-between”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong

2017 “you think you are Mimosa”, Last Tango, Zurich, Switzerland

2016 “The Darkroom That Is Not Dark”, Magician Space, Beijing, China

“The Sunset of Last Summer”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong

2015 “no pressure :)”, Zurcher Hochschule der Kunste ZHdK, Zurich, Switzerland

“Garden Cruising: It’s not easy being green”, Booth: Blindspot Gallery, Art|Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2014 “That Dog at That Party”, Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong

2013 “Trevor Yeung’s Encyclopedia”, Observation Society, Guangzhou, China

2012 “seven gentlemen”, HARDNECK.hk, Hong Kong “the bedroom show”, The artist’s bedroom, Hong Kong

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 “Singapore Biennale”, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

“Kathmandu Triennale 2077”, Patan Museum, Bahadur Shah Baithak, Nepal Art Council, Taragaon Museum, and Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal.

“Park Projects”, Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai

2021 “Death Ray on a Coral Island. Science Fiction and its Archeology”, Shanghai Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China

“6 th Future Generation Art Prize”, PinchukArtCenter, Kyiv, Ukraine

“trust and confusion”, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong

2020 “KölnSkulptur #10”, Stiftung Skulpturenpark Köln, Cologne, Germany

“Garden of Six Seasons”, Para Site and Soho House, Hong Kong

“Lumière Noire”, HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China

“Anonymous Society for Magick”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong

2019 “Cruising Pavilion”, ArkDes, Stockholm, Sweden

“A beast, a god, and a line”, Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway

“Esqueci de acordar”, Diablo Rosso, Panama City, Panama “la biennale de Lyon 2019”, Lyon, France

“Blood and Soil: Dark Arts for Dark Times”, Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania

“To See the Forest and the Trees”, Asia Society, Hong Kong

“An Opera for Animals”, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2018 “Liminal Encounters”, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Hong Kong

“After Nature: UCCA Dune Opening Exhibition”, UCCA Dune, Beidaihe, China

“Wan Chai Grammatica: Past, Present, Future Tense”, Pao’s Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong

“Today Could Have Been a Happy Day”, Taikang Space, Beijing, China

“Cruising Pavilion”, the 16 th International Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy

“38 th EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial”, Limerick, Ireland

“A Beast, A God, and a Line”, 4 th Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Para Site, Hong Kong; TS1, Yangon, Myanmar; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland

2017 “LIGHT UP Therapy Resort”, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China

“The Other Face of the Moon”, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, Korea

“A Most Filial Imprint”, Aike Dellarco, Shanghai, China

“From Ocean to Horizon”, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester, UK

“Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs”, Para Site, Hong Kong “Art|Basel Hong Kong: GALLERIES”, Booth: Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

2016 “Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival”, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Xiamen, China

“Sea Pearl White Cloud”, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia “Sea Pearl White Cloud”, Observation Society, Guangzhou, China “Daguerréotypes”, Neptune, Hong Kong “Adrift”, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China

2015 “Scenarios of Time”, The Fourth Art Sanya, Sanya, China “Des hôtes: a foreigner, a human, an unexpected visitor”, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong “CHINA 8”, Osthaus-Museum Hagen, Hagen, Germany “After/Image”, Studio 52, Hong Kong “A Hundred Years of Shame” , Para Site, Hong Kong “The 2 nd CAFAM·Future Exhibition”, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2014 “Social Factory”, the 10 th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China “780s”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong

“The Part In The Story Where A Part Becomes A Part Of Something Else”, Witte de With Center for

Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, the Netherlands “Ten Million Rooms of Yearning. Sex in Hong Kong”, Para Site, Hong Kong

2012 “Scalable Strategies”, Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong “Why Do Trees Grow Till the End?”, Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong

2011 “Look! For Food”, Detour 2011, Former Police Married Quarters, Hong Kong “shadow in the dark”, Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong

2010 “ArtAlive@Park”, Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong “New Trend 2010”, Cattle Depot Artist Village, Hong Kong