by Anna Gamboa
HONG KONG – Slated to end on June 26, an exhibit has had crowds lining up on Fort Street in North Point, Hong Kong, not far from the Sunbeam Theater where they still perform Chinese opera. But the art on display at Connecting Space Hong Kong is drama of a different sort, portraying a world where a trigger-happy gunman shoots a granny, paints her black, and gets hailed a hero by a policeman (who puts cuffs on the corpse).
Welcome to this parallel universe viewed through Joan Cornella’s disturbing lens–and one painting refers to this–where a character is seemingly in the process of putting on a cartoonish button-black eye right over a human-shaped one featuring light blue irises. This is the realm of “Instaboobs,” in which a guy on a smartphone gets turned on by the sight of bare knees/legs, a bikini bottom, and cleavage sans bikini top–when in reality the photos are from a bald double-amputee getting his kicks in by manipulating the images with selective cropping.
Free hugs from guys without arms, men in suits cheerfully hanging themselves from parachutes or playground equipment, the crowds haven’t abated since the exhibit opened June 17, patiently waiting to view the darkly humored art rendered in cheerful colors. The demand, combined with word of mouth has gotten so that the gallery has had to adjust its hours from 10:00am – 10:00pm to accommodate all visitors.
Limited prints portray surreal or absurd situations, like the suited man horrified at the homeless junkie shooting up, only to administer the same drug to a little girl wailing over her lost balloon. Or the security guard who hands over a “Jesus loves you” postcard to a young man, who then realizes the guard’s shirt features a nameplate that says “Jesus” –oh, and his penis is hanging out of his unzipped trousers. The lonely woman sad over seeing couples holding hands gets rescued by a handyman, who saws her in half from head to toe, so she can stand by herself and hold her own hands.
The merch is certainly flying: shirts sold out, reproductions going fast, books being bought for personal collections or as gifts, proving that dialogue-free images, when conveyed effectively, can be humorous, when seen a certain way. Definitely a must for those with a sick sense of humor, who may have loved the “Bunny Suicides” series. For more information on the exhibit and where it may travel next, log on tohttps://www.facebook.com/events/1730898360530069/?ti=as
