Trevor Yeung

China / Hong Kong, b. 1988

Trevor Yeung’s Sunset Light (2017) is an installation of two candles that, at close proximity, appear to share a flame and are placed on a palm tree–shaped candelabra. Audiences are invited to take part by lighting the candles, which temporarily radiate in vermilion. The piece also includes an antique bench formerly used in a British government office, a style of furniture found in Ireland, the artist’s native Hong Kong, as well as other former British colonies. In Last Summer Sunset (2016), two other palm tree–shaped candle stands are almost entirely covered in thick layers of congealed wax, symbolises a physical trace of the candle’s existence. The presence of candles in the exhibition reminds us of a pre-modern source of light. By lighting a candle, a slightly romanticised gesture, the viewer is asked to engage with an alternative source of power that isn’t reliant on technology or electricity, and allows us the opportunity to contemplate the world around us in a slow, decelerated way. Through the light of a candle, like a sunset, our surroundings take on a different glow, a different speed, a different time.

Trevor Yeung (b. 1988, China) lives in Hong Kong. His practice comprises photographs and installations, and mostly describes human processes and relations through the lens of horticulture and botanic ecology. Using phenomena from the natural world, he stages dramatic scenarios – onto which he imposes his own rules and parameters – that are intimately connected to his own personal experiences. He graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, in 2010. Solo exhibitions include: The darkroom that is not dark, Magician Space, Beijing (2017); The Sunset of Last Summer, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong (2016); no pressure 🙂, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zurich (2015). Group shows include: Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila (2017); Sea Pearl White Cloud, Observation Society, Guangzhou, China (2016); and Daguerréotypes, Neptune, Hong Kong (2016).

(Text: 38th EVA International catalogue)