Sea of Faces

3812 Gallery is Hong Kong’s most exciting art space. An iconic presence at 118 Queen’s Road West in Sai Ying Pun, the gallery is committed to the promotion of remarkable art and artists. The unveiling of this upcoming exhibition, Sea of Faces by Chloe Ho, marks the celebration of the official launch of the exclusive Salon on the 3/F of 3812 Gallery.

Sea of Faces is a unique and challenging project, featuring portrait drawings by Hong Kong artist Chloe Ho. With her remarkable insight and attention to nuance, Chloe chronicles the human state through figure drawings and paintings, reflecting her continued investigation into the issue of self and identity. Located between representation and self-reflection, Chloe’s collection of ‘New Portraiture’ seeks the answer to the fundamental question of how the ‘self’ has been constructed and interpreted throughout mankind’s collective history. Central to this is the concept of memories, which are often linked intrinsically to a ‘place’ – be it our home, particular buildings, or even our environment. In this way, Chloe Ho’s Sea of Faces is also reflective of the ‘global village’ concept in which the current generation seeks an understanding of their place and identity in the modern world, while there remains a sense of belonging to a distant, ancestral, but unfamiliar world.

Like any true artist, Chloe Ho is seeking her own narrative; she varies her medium and process, and has the courage to break away from the norm to develop something fresh and new. Chloe’s collection of portrait drawings and paintings is not simply an effort to replicate reality, nor imitate the past. Instead, it searches for a truth that exists in essence, rather than in concrete form– an ideal which is reflected in her choice of medium and process: charcoal, pen, ink, acrylic, spray paint, and even coffee. There is a physicality to her process that is tangible to the viewer, and a rawness to the materials that transcends the confinements of imagery.

Chloe explains the difference between her New York Forbes Gallery show Under the Surface and Sea of Faces: “Sea of Faces actually refers to the Forbes show, but with a greater focus on my portrait paintings and drawings. I think all my works have a certain continuity and connection in terms of creative expression– it’s similar to writing a poem or a novel. This show continues to reveal my artistic journey and the people I’ve met along the way– loved and loathed– both in the US and in Hong Kong. The show also speaks to the artist’s struggle to understand and portray identity. I would say the work helped me to know myself better in the process of making these images of others.”

The works in Sea of Faces are divided into 5 series. ‘Intimacy’ is painted primarily with acrylic and Chinese ink to capture the immediacy of a single moment in time, with a strong use of medium to invoke a psychological depth. ‘Insight’ is a series of mixed media works that capture the individuality of each subject through their own personal colour or aura. The works in ‘Identity’ use Chinese ink, pen and ink, charcoal, and spray paint to depict the fluidity of the subjects’ identities – which mirrors the fluidity of all human identities. ‘Shakespeare Envisioned’ makes use of charcoal to depict the tonal plurality of the characters. Lastly in ‘Isolation’, figures are rendered in Chinese ink and charcoal using simple lines and forms, reflecting how all people live in a state of solitude at one point or another.

Chloe comprehends the often conflicting position of the artist portraying others. She ‘sees’ the faces she paints, while being ‘at sea’ among them. Her ‘New Portraiture’ provides reconciliation through an incisive capturing of her subjects’ characteristics, as she invites viewers to join her on a creative journey of self and identity.