Trevor Yeung
(b. 1988, China) consistently excavates the inner logics of closed systems and the way in which such systems contain and create emotional and behavioural conditions. In his mixed-media works, carefully staged objects, animals, and plants function as aesthetic pretexts which delicately and ironically address notions of artificiality and the processes of human relations. Yeung has participated in biennials and exhibitions including “la biennale de Lyon 2019” (Lyon, France, 2019); the 38th EVA International Biennale (Limerick, Ireland, 2018); the 4th Dhaka Art Summit (Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2018); “The Other Face of the Moon” (Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea, 2017); “Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs” (Para Site, Hong Kong, 2017); “Seal Pearl White Cloud” (4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Australia, 2016); and the 10th Shanghai Biennale (China, 2014). Trevor Yeung lives and works in Hong Kong.
(b. 1988, China) consistently excavates the inner logics of closed systems and the way in which such systems contain and create emotional and behavioural conditions. In his mixed-media works, carefully staged objects, animals, and plants function as aesthetic pretexts which delicately and ironically address notions of artificiality and the processes of human relations. Yeung has participated in biennials and exhibitions including “la biennale de Lyon 2019” (Lyon, France, 2019); the 38th EVA International Biennale (Limerick, Ireland, 2018); the 4th Dhaka Art Summit (Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2018); “The Other Face of the Moon” (Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea, 2017); “Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs” (Para Site, Hong Kong, 2017); “Seal Pearl White Cloud” (4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Australia, 2016); and the 10th Shanghai Biennale (China, 2014). Trevor Yeung lives and works in Hong Kong.
Trevor Yeung creates a site-specific installation, presenting two different works. Mr. Cuddles shows the Pachira-trees hanging from the ceiling by colored straps. Night Mushroom Colon is a smaller-scale object made of several plug adaptors with glowing mushrooms. Working spatially, Yeung combines and contrasts tall suspended plants with a tiny plug-in night light at floor level. The human scale here is a crucial aspect that becomes an opportunity for the audience to feel themselves as a part of the installation and to match the different measurement systems.
Initially created in 2018, when a “super typhoon” was passing directly over Hong Kong, Mr. Cuddles obtains an additional layer of connotation during the period of the global pandemic. The trees which, throughout the duration of the exhibition, are forced to grow confined in unhealthy proximity to one another become a metaphor for society at large, as the experience of cohabitation has become marked by inescapable interactions. Trevor Yeung’s work speaks about the different kinds of relationships formed within small groups and challenges the experience of a shared dwelling.
In contrast, Night Mushroom Colon becomes a specific gesture of care. Alone at night, a person switches on a lamp which somehow becomes a companion. The slight bioluminescent glow of the mushrooms produced by an electrical converter reminds us about non-human presence and the agency of multiple species.
