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Owen Leong
Intimate Debris, 7-29 May 2021, Artereal Gallery.
Photographer: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy of Artereal Gallery.
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 1
2021
Gypsum, bronze, smoky quartz, marble, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 1
2021
Gypsum, bronze, smoky quartz, marble, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 2
2021
Gypsum, smoky quartz, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, cuttlefish bone, medicine bottle, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 2
2021
Gypsum, smoky quartz, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, cuttlefish bone, medicine bottle, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 3
2021
Gypsum, smoky quartz, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 3
2021
Gypsum, smoky quartz, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 4
2021
Gypsum, bronze, smoky quartz, marble, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Owen Leong
Transitional Object 4
2021
Gypsum, bronze, smoky quartz, marble, jadeite, polyurethane resin, black glitter, beeswax, acrylic pearls, shells, found objects, studio detritus, 24kt gold leaf, lime wash wood frame
44.5 x 32 x 6cm (framed)
Intimate Debris is a series of wall-based sculptures, installations and assemblages. Playing with chance and intention, Leong has created concrete and gypsum stone tablets embedded with found objects and studio detritus. Personal, intimate and found objects are combined with materials shed from the act of creation within the artist’s studio. The surface of each stone tablet is encrusted with black glitter, crystals and pearls.
This body of work is a system of ordering to make sense of the unknown, to create order out of chaos. After a year where many of us were forced to spend more time alone, this work is about solitude, creativity and self-renewal.
Like the layering of strata, the amalgamation and accretion of materials creates a type of geological abstraction. Through a collapsed hierarchy of forms, the rectilinear stone tablets take on a painterly quality of colour and texture, while irregular shaped slabs appear like artefacts from a future archaeology.
Grounded by the hand of the artist, remnants of the artist’s physical presence can be found in golden fingers mounted to wooden frames. These fingers hold space and gesture inwards, turning from a turbulent outside world to the infinite possibilities of an inner world of imagination and creativity.
Leong’s artworks employ forces of creation and destruction to investigate the cyclical nature of order and chaos, and to reflect more universal aspects of human nature. Approaching this body of work as a democracy of materials, what we consider precious is collapsed into the non-precious, creating a powerful sense of renewal. In a time of uncertainties beyond our control, our personal space – the body, the home, the studio – take on much greater significance. The personal becomes a safe space where the process of creation becomes a meditative act of healing.