BE CAREFUL OR YOU MAY BECOME THE CENTRE, the artist’s first solo exhibition with Wei-Ling Gallery, is different from commonly known art exhibition. It is Chong Kim Chiew’s solo exhibition, but also a group exhibition of various artists. These invited artists include 0, Kim and TOPY. They are actually Chong’s avatar, they are divided from Chong’s maternal self yet have their’ own personal statement and system which allow the artist to make their creative content, develop a multicenter/decenter interlocution frame.

Theme
BE CAREFUL OR YOU MAY BECOME THE CENTRE chose to represent and respond on the history of art / artists by having different point of view from different identities.

Artists / art creators have different form, habit and position throughout the history, the definition of theme evolves/ changes every time where art changes its stages. For instances, artists are considered as omnipotent creator, against by the modern artist where defiance to revolutionize / differ from the classic’s notion, where as complexity, even the ideas are overwhelming the identity of artist are featured in contemporary art’s direction.

Artist has only one physical body, but art creators their own role which their appearances, social statements, ideologies, networks are operating all together under the same category. Even the artwork has multiple context but those art works still present under a same name system. In the name of artist, it may like a physical body, which limitations of define their own creation concepts where also, when creations processes that is out of the name where it cannot be mobilized or demonstrated.

BE CAREFUL OR YOU MAY BECOME THE CENTRE is trying to deconstruct the capabilities and limitations of solo creator of art to seek the possibilities of disconnection, connection’s and multi center concepts of creation, hence to let artist hover through different ego’s in his creation processes freely.

If artist has different identity and name, he can mobilizes different methods and imagination and share it in the same platform upon creations invitation. While confront with different artistic question, artist can approach these question with more strategies and methods.

BE CAREFUL OR YOU MAY BECOME THE CENTRE hoping to break the established pattern of art exhibition (solo exhibition, group exhibitions or joint solo exhibition), experiment it to explore more possibilities of same artist but different art creator.

Boundary Fluidity by Chong Kim Chiew
One of his main egos, Chong is currently living in Kuala Lumpur and utilizing his idea by painting and installation measures from his main inspirations. By showing the misrepresented map to show the metaphor of history progression and exploring on places where hasn’t been categorize d yet by using tarpaulin map, video and photograph since 2007 as he started the Boundary Fluidity series.

Chong used methodology that overlaying maps after maps on the industrial tarpaulin and made a large scale scroll paintings that allowed to carry which lead the map back to its original intention, Chong purposely keeping marks and tracks left on the tarp canvas after continuously writing, drenching acrylics and drawing cross lines, repeating the process and layering the colors which makes it vague. All and all are artist’s intentions and understandings that will be carrying on.

Chong also carries his art work to the places where it should have known and familiar in daily lives yet blurred out third space, for instance, he will take photos and videos at coastlines, car park or balcony for a purpose: to rediscover the existence of the neglected third space and extend the flow and definition of map. There is still a lot of undetected information for map, it is brimming with fluidity and floatability; the covered tracks of the maps meant to express artist’s feeling towards history’s changing during time. Hence, the travelling of the map with its changing art piece that artist tends to change over time while on each exhibitions is the metaphor of the flowing of time meant to the changing histories.

Unreadable Wall by Chong Kim Chiew
It took eight years for Chong to complete this art work that consists of every language’s newspapers he collected throughout the years; shredded, and blend with food blender to make a brick pulps. During his exhibition, he often builds a replica wall according to the size of the entrance of the exhibitions. Judge by eyes it is a thick and firm wall but it is rather fragile and easily to fall. It’s the allusion of current situation of mass media nowadays.

Across your space, across his(her) space, across my space by 0
0 had set up a dashed line photography installation where all images are taken from daily and routine life scenes and simulates a room and places details such as floor board, wall etc. images and put it in different corners of the exhibition, connecting different environments in the images with the exhibition and let the imaginary spaces collide its existence to each other’s. By creating an ambiguous feeling, the purpose is clear: audience will carry away by the crashing scenes and into “his domain” while physically stays at the actual environment.

Biological term “mimicry” had inspired 0 to create an installation art that bring out the meaning: in a highly similar decorations that will let the audience doubt its’ existence or even ignore it as well as doubt towards audiences and ask the questions like “is this an installation?” or “is this original modality of interspace?” “What did this serve?”

0 is a virtual artist and he tends to intercept and manipulate the ideas of public places and private places by mixing up and simulate the existence of spaces that not exist.

Skin Time by Kim
Kim is an Asian who stays in USA however; he once has been a stateless person due to his identity. Although his origin still remain unknown but he has been speculated as Korean, Chinese or even Philippines or Vietnamese.
He uses videos and photographs as his favourite creation of choice to discover and discuss conversations between physical body and time. He marked down different time on his body and took images of the scars on his body. “Skin Time” video length is synchronized with gallery’s opening hours (11am-7pm) by presenting an eight hour stop motion which comprised of 480 picture frames, each picture frame will freeze frame for one minute. This video will play through the help of time keeping.
Usually there has no clock in exhibition hall, it is like a movie experience in cinema where time keeping is not necessary, absence of time keeping helps to isolate audiences reality side and focus on the aesthetic of the objects where time piece is defeating the purposely a reality reminder. Hence, will the time marks on the skin affects or interrupts audiences while exhibiting even if it’s unnoticed? Will audience experience differently? The artist is using an extremely simplified and silence in the video to begin the conversations between physical time and biological time

Exhibition Logo Design No.1 by TOPY
TOPY came from Czech Republic, a young and talented logo designer and hasn’t taken part to any art exhibitions previously. Considering his maiden voyage, he has been invited to this exhibition as one of the co-exhibits. He created a headless litter Isotype logo which that head is being litter by the headless man itself.

The scoff playing art piece is a statement from TOPY that wish audiences to have thinking on the sense of contemporary art and enjoying it, audiences often trying too hard and thinking too complicated; over-read the true meaning of a contemporary art piece, why can’t we dump this habit while we’re in the exhibitions? Of course, it is a mock within a mock to “be careful” which it needs audience to do a considerable thinking on this exhibition.

Also, TOPY is trying to break the coherence of the theme of this exhibition by just adding in a non-artistic Isotype logo, interrupting the united direction compare to other artist’ art pieces. By doing so he is boosting the vitality of the exhibition, similar to Eel Effect.